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Program offers support and guidance for Team Scott

  • Published
  • By Steve Berry
  • 375th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  A new Department of Defense program that provides free confidential behavioral health support for children and teens is now available at Scott. 

The Child and Youth Behavioral Program is run by private Military and Family Life Consultants who help kids work through their life issues. The program augments existing support systems at Scott and throughout the Air Force. 

Family Member Program Flight Chief Ruth Portell said she welcomed the new program.
"We are really excited to have it started to help the families, and the children, and to support the staff," Ms. Portell said. "It's nice to have that extra person come in and be another set of eyes and ears." 

The new program, which was first implemented in the Army, focuses on short-term consultations between doctorate and masters level behavioral specialists and military family members. The specialists, or military and family life consultants (MFLC), help parents deal with parenting issues as well as help children and teens work through their life issues. 

Issues addressed by MFLCs include school adjustments, deployment and separation, reunion adjustment, fear, grief and loss. 

A similar program for adults, operated by the same organization, is currently in place at the Airman and Family Readiness Center. The new youth version of the counseling program is based at the child development center and youth center on base, but MFLCs can also meet with clients confidentially at no cost off base. 

The Child and Youth Behavioral Program is contracted through a private company called MHN Government Services. MHN does not keep records or documents of the individuals they help. 

Services are confidential with the exception of duty-to-warn situations--when a client is a direct and imminent threat to themselves or others. Anyone within the DoD and their families can use the services, which in the future will be directly available to all branches of the military at all bases around the world.