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Army Spouses - Let's Chat!
An open discussion about what military spouses want and need to inform building a peer support program
When and where
Date and time
March 7 · 10am - April 6 · 6:30pm PST
Location
Online
About this event
What to expect: In each discussion meeting we will ask questions related to the experiences of Army spouses to help guide the creation of a peer-led curriculum.
Topics include: childcare, employment, education, housing, AND more!!
Participants must be current active duty Army spouses or partners
About the program: Hosted by the Institute for Military and Veteran Family Wellness at the University of Texas at Austin, our programming emphasizes the benefit of strong and supportive communities that offer peer-to-peer understanding and guidance to address the unique challenges of military and veteran spouses. Through our programming, spouses have the opportunity to connect with their peers (spouses who have a similar set of experiences unique to military life), while leaning on trained peer leaders to create a structured, safe space to come together, share their stories, successes and challenges.
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About the organizer
Research indicates that low social support and isolation are risk factors for veteran suicide. Despite the importance of social connectedness, there is little research indicating the effectiveness of including concerned significant others (CSOs), e.g., family members, spouses, close friends, and peers in veteran suicide prevention efforts. Integrating social support into treatments for veterans has demonstrated positive results; yet this strategy has not typically been studied within veteran suicide prevention.
This PCORI Engagement Award project will host “All Hands on Deck: Community Convening to Improve Research on Veteran Suicide Prevention” to facilitate discussions with 200 stakeholders (veterans, CSOs, mental health providers, and researchers) to design innovative engagement strategies with CSOs to improve veteran suicide prevention research. Facilitated groups will discuss ways to engage concerned significant others in PCORI on veteran suicide comparative effectiveness research on (1) firearms safety and (2) crisis response and safety planning research. A Stakeholder Advisory Board will be formed to guide the project comprised of veterans, concerned significant others, mental health providers and researchers to design, plan and run the Convening. After the Convening, the Project leads and board will co-author and disseminate a CSO Engagement Guide to support PCORI in veteran suicide prevention. For more information on this initiative, visit the PCORI page.