Ready, Set, Go! Training: Toolkit for Working with Military Students and Families

Michelle Gwinn Nutter

Ready, Set Go! (RSG) training, manual, and resource CD comprise a comprehensive training toolkit designed to educate youth workers, educators, counselors, and other community service agencies on military culture, the deployment cycle, fostering resilience in kids, influence of the media, and building community capacity. The intent of RSG! training is to increase ordinary citizens' understanding of the unique issues facing military youth and assist them in creating state and local OMK support networks. School personnel, youth-serving agency staff, and civic groups may find RSG! training especially beneficial.

Goals and Objectives

By the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. identify the deployment cycle;
2. list ways that children and teens may act in response to parental deployment;
3. examine the unique needs of children of deployed parents/guardians.

Presentation Outline

1. Military-connected kids in Pennsylvania
2. The Deployment Cycle
   1. Pre-Deployment
   2. Deployment
   3. Sustainment
   4. Reintegration
   5. Post-Deployment
3. Signs of Deployment Stress
   1. Children
   2. Teens
   3. Acute Distress
4. Healthy Responses
   1. Adults
   2. Schools
5. Activities to Support Military-Connected Kids
   1. School-based
   2. Community-based
   3. Individual actions
6. Resources