NPR: Morning Edition. November 12, 2007. By Bob Oakes (Read Original)

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Richard Moody of Danvers and Shirley Burke of Salem use the services of SOFAR.
BOSTON, Mass. - November 12, 2007 - On Veterans Day, we often pause to think about the sacrifice of soldiers, especially those in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When they return from war, they can face significant mental health challenges. Often, it's more than the soldiers who need help: Families also need psychological support. Army Reserve and National Guard families are in a unique position because they lack the support of a military base community.

Shirley Burke lives in Salem and says she felt scared and lonely while her husband Phillip served two tours of duty in Iraq. "Every night you go to bed and you say am i going to get a phone call tonight," Burke says, "A knock on the door, that's how we live every day."

Burke found help with a free counseling group called " SOFAR," or Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists. She says SOFAR's mental health professionals let her talk about her fear of losing her husband, something she didn't think her neighbors could relate to.

Counselors also go to group meetings of Army Reservists and National Guard families. Air Force veteran Richard Moody of Danvers runs a family support group.

He invited SOFAR to speak about the isolation that families feel when a family member is deployed. Moody says, "At any minute we could be killed. And that's a level of stress that you can't explain to people that don't understand it. What happens is that almost everybody that comes back is changed. And when they change, the people back home need to be addressed as to how to cope, how to handle that."

SOFAR's 70 volunteers meet with individuals and family groups in Boston and throughout New England. The organization's Co-Directors Ken Reich and Jaine Darwin join WBUR's Bob Oakes in conversation this morning.

February, 2007, Cambridge, MA – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has endorsed the Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists (SOFAR) program. SOFAR offers pro-bono counseling and support services to families and children with loved ones serving overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones.

“Formal endorsement by organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics is a testament to the importance of the mission we have undertaken,” said Dr. Kenneth Reich, co-chair and founder of SOFAR. “Support from the AAP is invaluable in terms of helping us provide mental health support to military families across the United States.”

SOFAR is a unique program that provides pro bono support for families of Army Reservists and the National Guard. SOFAR allows mental health professionals in civilian life to provide pro bono services that support families at all stages of overseas military engagement (alert, mobilization, deployment, reunion.)

“The So Far Guide for Helping Children and Youth Cope with the Deployment of a Parent in the Military Reserves” is one aspect of the SOFAR program that is available to educators, parents, pediatricians and other professionals. After reviewing the pamphlet, the AAP provided information that was incorporated into the final edition.

Families of soldiers, children in particular, face special challenges during wartime. SOFAR recognizes that anxiety and depression may be caused by separation and fear for their soldiers' safety. Untreated anxiety and depression may lead to infidelity, divorce, domestic violence, suicidal thoughts and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.)

SOFAR is designed to address a significant need. Some estimates show that 40 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations overseas will suffer some form of psychological difficulty. Mental health professionals who volunteer in the SOFAR are trained to work with families of Army Reservists and the National Guard on several issues, including:

• Impact on the family when a soldier first returns home from a war zone deployment. The joy of a family's reunion is coupled with the challenge of coping with changes in family relationships that take place when a family member leaves and returns.

• The long-term impact of soldiers' return from the war theater. Research shows that symptoms not previously seen are most likely to appear six months after soldiers return from the war theater.

• How different family members might feel at any point during different stages of overseas engagement and how children may be impacted at different stages of their development.

SOFAR mental health professionals also are trained to provide psycho-education to provide the families of reservists and national guardsmen. All SOFAR mental health professionals are volunteers who are trained to provide service to families and to give consultation and support to each other. SOFAR creates teams of volunteers, with each team assigned specialists and a senior supervisor.

According to a New York Times analysis published in December 2004, "tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq" could return home with "serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war."

A study conducted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2004 indicated that to date, one in approximately six soldiers in Iraq who experienced combat exhibited symptoms of major depression, serious anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. Many mental health professionals believe this proportion could increase to as high as one in three soldiers.

On the home front, military families are experiencing serious stress, uncertain about if or when a loved one will return home. In addition, a parent who remains at home must struggle with the emotional and financial strain of raising a family without the day-to-day support of his or her loved one abroad. Strategic outreach to families helps to reduce their stress and prepares them for the possibility that their Reservist or Guard member may exhibit symptoms associated with trauma from serving in a combat zone during war time. The more prepared these families are to address their own needs, the better they will be able to face the challenges of a loved one's return.

The long-term detrimental effects of untreated trauma are enormous. It is a chilling fact that one-third of homeless men in America today are veterans, and the number of Vietnam veterans who are homeless now exceeds the number of U.S troops killed during that war.

As friends, neighbors and fellow citizens, we must ensure that today's veterans and their families receive the care and support they need. They have volunteered to serve our country so that we might be safe and secure.

Now, it is our turn to serve them.

The Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Institute of New England (PCFINE), with the support of other psychoanalytic groups throughout the country, has launched a new pro bono program called SOFAR: Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists. Through this program, SOFAR coordinates the delivery of psychotherapy and psycho-educational services to the families of Reservists and National Guard members who are stationed in or returning from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait.

The goal of SOFAR is to provide a flexible and diverse range of psychological services that fosters stabilization, aid in formulating prevention plans to avoid crises, and help families to manage acute problems effectively when they occur. Our highest priority is to help families to develop and maintain coping skills during the phases of Alert, Mobilization/Activation, Deployment and Reunion/Reintegration. Clinicians will be available to provide individual and family therapy and lead support groups targeted for families, mothers and parents on such topics as stress management, anger management and general coping skills.

SOFAR aims to reduce stress on Reservists and Guard Members by letting them know that SOFAR is there to support their families when the need arises. The program is beginning with more than 70 credentialed volunteers who are meeting with members of Family Readiness Groups of the Army Reserves, based in the Boston, MA and surrounding communities. Families of Army Reservists have received information about the program and are encouraged to contact the program by calling us at 617-266-2611 to request an assignment to one of the participating clinicians in the Greater Boston area. All families will be guaranteed strictly confidentiality within the limits of the law.

Once a family member requests services from SOFAR, the clinician will conduct an assessment and develop a treatment plan for the individual and/or family. The family member and the clinician will negotiate the duration and frequency of services to best meet the needs of the family with the resources SOFAR can provide. Should the family require additional community resources, the clinician will assist in making referrals to appropriate services.

Once the program has been assessed and appropriate changes made to accommodate the needs of the population, SOFAR will work to replicate the program nationally through the 27 local chapters of Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association and the 31 institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Ongoing news about the project and plans for expanding its scope will be reported on PCFINE's website as well (www.pcfine.org).