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Crossing Borders for Remote Military Families
Though they work with remote Canadian Forces (CF) families posted thousands of kilometres away, the Military Family Services Program (MFSP) Europe team believes in the value of a little face-time.
“When you can work with families in person, you can get to know them better, and they’re more willing to reach out,” says Hanneke Hardwick, Remote Family Services Director. “We have 88 families spread over 12 countries, though, so it’s a pretty unique situation when we can get together.”
In July 2008, just such a situation arose when four of the five military members posted to Istanbul were deployed to Afghanistan. The Canadian Forces Support Unit Europe and MFSP Europe team recognized the special opportunity to reach out to the deployed members’ families to offer tailored, in-person deployment support.
First, they held a mid-deployment session during fall 2008, bringing the families to Geilenkirchen to participate in workshops. Since that session proved valuable for families, the Senior Canadian Officer (SCO) Colonel M.G. Dussault then invited the support team to hold a second, post-deployment session for returned personnel and their spouses, 11-14 May 2009 in Istanbul.
The MFSP Europe team partnered with the various members of military personnel support, including the chaplaincy and the medical teams. These partnerships allowed the MFSP Europe team to deliver an inclusive, well-rounded workshop.
“We got to work hand-in-hand with military members and the SCO to determine what the families needed and wanted, and to develop the workshop content,” says Hanneke. “It was very important to all of us that the workshops and activities were unique to the experiences of remote families in Istanbul.”
Nancy Kay-Erskine, Remote Family Services Program Coordinator, was encouraged by the workshops’ success. “We were able to provide lots of tools to bring the couples back to working together – to get them off the independent track, and back to thinking as a ‘we.’”
During their visit to Istanbul, the team also provided a sense of Canadian community support for the CF families there, complete with a banquet celebrating their achievements and thanking them for the sacrifices they made at home and on deployment.
“Reunion is different in Canada because the support for the troops tends to be publicly acknowledged in things like Red Shirt Fridays, yellow ribbons and positive stories in the media about homecomings,” notes Caterina Perry, MFSP European Regional Manager. “But in many parts of Europe, when CF members return from Afghanistan they can feel isolated. By going to see the members and families in person, we were able to remind them that Canadians appreciate them.”
The MFSP Europe team has received great feedback from the families and the CF leadership for their efforts in Istanbul, and are pleased that they’ve tapped into a great expansion of their services.
“We’re really excited about the potential for these workshops,” says Caterina. “I’m very proud of this team. We have to realize that even as recently as 2005, remote families didn’t have much support during deployments. Now, I think we can deliver support at a very high level in a way that’s really working for families. I think we’ve broken some great new ground!”
