Resources

FOR PROVIDERS

The Toolkit for the Well-Child Screening of Military Children and an accompanying waiting are designed to help pediatricians and other primary care providers identify and address the signs of post-traumatic stress among children and families. Development of the toolkit was led by Home Base’s Paula Rauch, MD, and Bonnie Ohye, MD, and was generously funded by the William P. Anderson Foundation.

The Tool Kit was developed by Home Base in collaboration with the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project (McPAP). Home Base and McPAP have distributed the toolkit to more than 400 primary care practices which provide care for 1.5 million children in Massachusetts. The toolkit has received state and nationwide attention through the Military Child Education Coalition, and a wide range of government and non–profit child–serving organizations, as well as The Boston Globe.

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FOR EDUCATORS

This Toolkit is intended as a resource to support resiliency in children and their parents. Educators are invaluable to this mission, readily available to students, their parents, and the team of professionals that support them. Educators see children in a setting that is second only to that of their family in being aware of their daily functioning. The Toolkit is intended to assist in early identification of Military Children and parents who can benefit from a warm, familiar adult taking the time to address the stress of a parent’s deployment and reunion. Educators can also, when indicated and in collaboration with others on the student’s team, facilitate an appropriate mental health referral for a student or a student’s family. As part of the Educators Toolkit, Home Base has developed a guide for Classroom Activities to Support Student Resilience.

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FOR SCHOOL NURSES

This toolkit is designed to help school nurses, educators and other school professionals better address the emotional needs of Military–Connected Children and Families in school systems. The Tool Kit was developed by Home Base in collaboration with the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project (McPAP). The toolkit includes:

• A primer on Military terminology
• Suggestions for starting a conversation with a Military–Connected Child about their parent’s deployment
• Classroom behavior check lists
• Parenting tips about coping with deployment and home coming challenges.

The toolkit and a special school poster were developed by Home Base Family Team’s Bonnie Ohye, PhD.

Support Groups

The support group for parents of Post-9/11 Veterans is designed to help parents when a Veteran son or daughter has returned home, and is struggling with combat stress or a traumatic brain injury. The group helps when family relationships are strained after the Veteran returns home and is re-entering civilian life, including work or school. Friends and other family members may not be offering the support parents need to cope with an adult child’s difficulties.

• When: 4th Tuesday of the month from 6:00 p.m.—7:30p.m.
• Where: Home Base Clinic, 101 Merrimac Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02114
• How: To register, contact Bonnie Ohye at bohye@partners.org or 617-724-5202.

Please let us know if the travel distance is a barrier to participating; accommodations can be made to participate via teleconferencing for Massachusetts residents.

Additional Tools

TALKING WITH CHILDREN

Talking with children about a parent’s upcoming Military deployment or homecoming can be challenging. If something troubling about the Military is covered widely in the news, it is difficult to know how to talk about it. At Home Base, we like to say, “for every one warrior, there are ten worriers.” Depending on a child’s age or life experience, a parent’s absence and return can be cause for great joy—or stress. Family routines are changed and so is communication.

The Family Support Team at Home Base has experience in working with children and families as family relationships and routines change. We’ve prepared three tools to help parents talk with children during these challenging times:

Preparing for Deployment
Preparing for a Parent’s Return Home
Talking About the News When A Parent is Deployed

If your child is experiencing signs of stress (trouble sleeping, difficulty with school work, behavior problems) and you believe it is connected to a parent’s deployment or return home, call the Home Base Family Team for help at 617-724-5202.