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Strength through Partnership
By Tara Bayne, Information and Referral Coordinator, Halifax MFRC
Colleen Calvert,Executive Director for the Halifax MFRC, with the Strength through Partnership presentation. |
Providing services for military family members is a crucial part of preparing the deploying member for duty. Through partnerships and excellence in programming, Military Family Resource Centres (MFRCs) work in partnership with the military and civilian organizations to provide family services.
The Halifax MFRC and Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) was recently recognized by the Director of Military Family Services Program (DMFS) for their partnership by being selected to present Deployment Support for Families: Strength through Partnership at the NATO Symposium: Human Dimensions in Military Operations, hosted in Brussels, Belgium.
Representing the Halifax and Shearwater MFRCs were Executive Director Colleen Calvert and Assistant Deployment Coordinator Bernie Mullin-Splude. They were joined by Celine Thompson, DMFS and Capt (N) G. Switzer of MARLANT
"All MFRCs should be incredibly proud that Canada is years ahead of the nations present," said Celine Thompson. "Most of these nations are where we were in 1985 when it comes to family support during deployment." Since 1991, DMFS has developed guidelines and policies and worked with bases and MFRCs to provide standardization of programs and services for military families throughout Canada.
"I was honoured to represent MFRCs, and all of the work and passion that has gone into building the programs," said Colleen Calvert. "Presenting to and hearing from an audience which included representatives from 34 NATO and Partner for Peace countries, military and civilian leaders throughout the world was exciting. The content of presentations affirmed the hard work that has been done by the MFRCs over the past 20 years."
At the core of the Halifax MFRC's deployment services program is research by Bernie Mullin-Splude. In 2004, Mullin-Splude completed her thesis, Experiences in Community in Canadian Military Families - a Female Partner's Perspective. This research and the development of the deployment services program at the Halifax MFRC is centered upon community based programming that recognizes and builds upon the strengths of participants and families. The successful program has been running at the Halifax MFRC for several years, and has included support to such large scale deployments as the Op Apollo deployments in 2001-2004.
The open relationship between the command structure and the Halifax MFRC has enabled the MFRC to respond effectively and professionally to communicate with members during a critical incident and has allowed members and their families to stay connected throughout deployment. This has lead to measurable successes, including reports of lower numbers of repatriations due to family stress and letters and emails from both members and families expressing appreciation to the MFRC.
Held on April 24-26, the symposium was called Human Dimensions in Military Operations hosted in Brussels, Belgium - Military Leaders' Strategies for Addressing Stress and Psychological Support and included participation from NATO countries, Partnership for Peace Nations and Mediterranean Dialogue Nations.
