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Standing Strong: Understanding the Mental Health Needs of Military-Connected Youth

By Military Service and Family Life

Military youth experience a unique lifestyle, which can sometimes cause significant stress and be difficult for others who are not military-connected to understand. Three specific factors have been identified in research as unique stressors endured by military youth: frequent moving, extended parental separations, and physical and mental health risks experienced by military service members, which affect the family unit (Frederick, & Siebler, 2022). While these factors can be experienced by all youth, military youth experience them more frequently, creating patterns of instability and uncertainty. 

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Defending Your Digital Life: Cybersecurity Strategies for Military Families

By Health and Well-Being

Military families rely on electronic devices to help manage their lives. Whether it’s connecting with a deployed service member, staying in touch with friends from prior duty stations, attending virtual classes, working remotely, or even something simple like ordering groceries online, devices are constantly in use. Explore ten proactive steps to online privacy for military families.

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Building Resilient Futures: How Youth-Adult Partnerships Empower Military-Connected Teens

By Community Engagement
Written by: Rachel Brauner Military-connected youth face challenges that many of their peers do not—frequent relocations, parental deployments, and the emotional toll of uncertainty (Bello‐Utu & DeSocio, 2015; Esposito-Smythers et al., 2011).While these experiences can foster strength, they can also strain a young person’s development. That’s where youth development programs...
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Transitions and Triumphs: Helping Military-Connected Youth Thrive

By Military Service and Family Life, Uncategorized
Written by: Maddie Seper, Crystal Williams, Ph.D., & Robyn DiPietro, Ed.M. Throughout childhood and adolescence, all students experience many changes and transitions. However, military-connected youth are a population that experiences unique changes over the course of their lives. According to the Military Child Education Coalition (2017), military-connected students move a...
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Stress-Management and Mindfulness Techniques for Military Service Members and Their Families

By Health and Well-Being

Working in a high-stress environment requires the use of stress-management techniques to mitigate long-term adverse impacts on a service member’s body, mind, and relationships. One such strategy that you can use daily in your work with military families is mindfulness. The Mayo Clinic describes mindfulness as a meditation practice to increase awareness of yourself, and your feelings and emotions in the present moment without judgment. Mindfulness reduces stress by incorporating breathing methods to relax the body and mind.

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