Guide

Kansas Resiliency Center

History

  1. The Resiliency Program was proposed by The Adjutant General (TAG) of Kansas when Kansas National Guard suicide equaled combat deaths in 2006.
  2. The TAG started a multi-faceted approach with proactive marriage workshops prior to deployments, stress relief training development, and temporary employment for returning warriors who were out of a job. He also sought funds from NGB to begin a pilot program to create resilient Service Members and Families.
  3. The TAG assembled a team with an administrative officer; Dr. Selig, a psychological health professional; the State Command Sergeant Major; and eventually added a multi-media director, an administrative program specialist, family resiliency specialist, a multi-media specialist, and an information technology specialist.
  4. Early on, the team interviewed leaders and conducted content analysis with existing military leadership and stress management training programs.
  5. The TAG then gathered information and collaborated with the following organizations:
  6. American Association of Emergency Psychiatry
  7. Walter Reed Army Institute for Research (WRAIR)
  8. National Defense University
  9. Israeli Military and Psychological Health Experts
  10. U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corp Stress Programs
  11. Kansas State University, Institute for the Health and Security of Military Families
  12. Purdue Military Family Research Institute
  13. Current Course Deployed:
  14. Flash Forward Leadership Resiliency Training

Module One: Leadership

Module Two: Assessment

Module Three: Bolstering Strengths

Module Four: Leadership Application

Flash Forward Resiliency Leadership Course
Kansas National Guard Resiliency Center

  • Course is constructed into seven modules/ELOs to be instructed in sequence
  • Module one is defining a resilient leader and common leader mistakes
  • Module two is assessments of self, subordinates, and unit
  • Module three is bolstering strengths, strategies, techniques, leadership skills
  • Module four is leadership application of modules 1, 2, and 3
  • Module five is identifying and enhancing Family resiliency
  • Module six is how spirituality enables resiliency
  • Module seven is putting it all together using tools learned in the class
  • Class is taught by volunteers who have career experiences that give them credibility with the target audience
  • Each module has PowerPoint slides, with some embedded video
  • Instructor uses personal experiences and stories to convey the message
  • Practical exercises utilized to apply knowledge from presentations
  • Participant should leave class with tools to implement a personal and unit resiliency plan
  • Curriculum designed to be a one-day training event

Resiliency Training Team Chief

  • Point of contact for requests of Resiliency Training for the State
  • Screens volunteer instructors to best fit them with portions of training material to teach:
  • Communication Skills in presenting and listening
  • Warmth, genuineness, empathy
  • Openness and willingness to share appropriate personal experiences that illustrate the curriculum material
  • To be most effective, Trainer should share the same general philosophy on resiliency as the program is promoting
  • Operational Deployment experience extremely desirable to give the trainer credibility
  • Coordinates resiliency training requirements with the Resiliency Training Center
  • Arranges training dates in coordination with requestors
  • Provides resiliency training statistics to the Resiliency Training Center (i.e. training events, participant names and units, as well as trainer names, units, positions, contact information)
  • Coordinates training materials
  • Coordinates training facility – accommodates groups according to size and needs
  • Facilitates relationships within State to expand program
  • Facilitates relationships as a State team leader with other State – be a gatekeeper for other States to access KS Resiliency program – i.e. when other States contact State Training Team Chief they facilitate contact with KS Resiliency Center to maintain consistency/integrity

Resiliency Leadership Training Strategic Execution

  1. Target audience to educate first would start with the senior staff/leadership so they know what the training contains. Then the senior staff/leadership can lead by example and can tell subordinates they have already taken the training.
  2. Concentrate on mobilizing units next. For the Army Guard, coordinate with your ARNG G3 Mobilizations Readiness Officer to get a rough mobilization schedule to prioritize what units need training first. It’s a good idea to have G3 invite the resiliency training team leader to the IPRs for the units when they initially discuss the training schedule with the unit. You can get the training date established well in advance for planning purposes. On the ANG side, talk to the LGRR Plans office at the Wing for the same information about units within that Wing who will deploy, and also for Air Expeditionary Force scheduling.
  3. For units that are mobilizing, consider having the resiliency training with their pre-mob training. Army Guard units have a considerable train-up time as a unit. During pre-mob training, you have a captive audience and are not trying to gather the appropriate people up for an additional event. The Air Guard is a different situation. The Wing leadership will need to identify who they want to attend the Resiliency Leaders course prior to Mob. We would recommend having those individuals come in a day before a Unit Training Assembly (UTA) and the training then. That would require traditional Guardsmen to be on some sort of duty status, i.e. Annual Training (AT), Rescheduled Unit Training Assembly (RUTA), etc. Otherwise it takes up half their UTA and encroaches upon their normal training schedule. But the Wing can decide what course of action works best for them.
  4. We would recommend staying away from adding Resiliency Leadership training to a Yellow Ribbon, or any event that includes Families. It poses problems for Families when the Service Member has to be at training on Friday morning and the Family has to travel with them and hang out for the day before they check into a hotel at 1500-1600 for the Yellow Ribbon event with no vehicle to pay for meals, etc. Or, it may force Families to drive separately from the Member, which is also a burden. It would not enhance the Yellow Ribbon or other training if the Families have been unnecessarily burdened.
  5. After prioritizing units that are going to mobilize, then concentrate on working with units that are not. This is where good coordination with leaders who have had resiliency leadership training will pay dividends. Try to work the resiliency training into their year-long training plan, just like safety training. You must be cognizant that the number of days/hours that a unit has to complete all the training required is a huge challenge. Both the Army and Air Guard get the traditional Guardsmen for 24 days of UTA and 15 days for AT. Having them include another 8 hours or so of resiliency training will be difficult. It is the equivalent of taking away one of their 24 days a year they for UTAs or one of the 15 days for AT. ARNG units will probably have to get with G3 to figure out how to fund the traditional Guardsmen to be on duty if this training is to be in addition to their 24/15 and ANG units will haveto determine what status they want their folks to attend in (UTA, RUTA, AT, etc.)
  6. Keep good records of who was trained, when, and in what unit so that data will be available to evaluate progress.

1

YRRP