By Stephanie Babyak, Red Cross volunteer

The National Capital & Greater Chesapeake Region (NCGC) is fortunate to have many wonderful volunteers who support the Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) program mission of providing care and comfort to active-duty military, veterans and their families. Among them is Robin “Charlie” Brown, whom the American Red Cross recently honored with the Mary Lou Chapman Legacy Award for her 10 years of dedicated service and commitment to the SAF programs.  

A U.S. Air Force veteran with 22 years of military service, Charlie earned two master's degrees in counseling and is a licensed professional counselor. She consistently supports the Red Cross SAF Behavioral Health Program, whether she is facilitating resiliency workshops, training others to become facilitators, creating and reviewing workshop content and offering support to other lines of service. Charlie assisted in the transition to virtual workshop offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic, while also volunteering for the Virtual Family Assistance Center for deployed staff.

One area of focus is her work with the Red Cross Military and Veteran Caregiver Network. Initially designed only for active-duty military, the resiliency workshops evolved to offer support for families and non-professional caregivers of wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans and the issues and challenges they face.

Community support “is tremendously important” for members of the military community who provide care for a loved one with physical or mental health challenges or disabilities, Charlie notes.

“The critical piece is that we are connecting people [through the Red Cross workshops], whether adults or children, to others in similar circumstances. The more we can put those bonds back together, the better off everyone is,” she explains.

Separated from their loved ones, especially during deployments, military families can experience high levels of stress and anxiety. Caregivers within this population can face additional challenges of grief over the decline of a loved one, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. They may also feel isolation, loneliness, and lack the social support they need to care for themselves. 

For military families, especially young people, caring for a family member with a health issue or disability can be stressful and isolating, Charlie adds. The Red Cross provides resiliency workshop curriculum specifically designed for teens, to connect them with other teens in caregiving situations, normalizing their experiences.  

As caregivers, kids and teens may be missing out on participating in sports and other after-school activities with friends. Ask a teen caregiver how they are feeling, and feelings of anger are a frequent concern. However, anger is a normal emotion in these situations -- often followed by a tremendous feeling of guilt, Charlie says.

“This is not a bad thing. It’s okay to be angry. It’s what you do with those emotions that matters,” she explains.

These Red Cross courses can be done virtually or in person. Workshops for teens and young children are offered at Gold Star camps or at Veterans Administration hospitals. Charlie partnered with another resiliency workshop trainer over the course of several years to develop content specifically to meet the unique needs of kids and teens in caregiving homes. The Children and Youth in Caregiving Homes (CYCH) curriculum was shared with existing resiliency facilitators via 10 virtual seminars. The CYCH workshops have now officially been incorporated into regularly offered workshops for kids and teens.

The sucess and expansion of these programs shows how needed -- and valuable -- they are. “The program is nationwide and offered at military bases overseas as well. I’ve been all across the country doing these workshops,” explains Charlie, who lives in Northern Virginia and is the lead facilitator for NCGC. 

The American Red Cross SAF team supports military families during deployments and emergencies; serves in military and veterans' hospitals, conducts emergency communications and continues supporting our nation’s veterans after their service ends. The team also adapts services and creates new programs to meet the needs of today’s military members, veterans, and their families.

This important work is done by dedicated volunteers across the country and on American military installations worldwide.

Join Charlie and the other amazing Red Cross SAF volunteers who take pride in supporting those who have given so much to our country. For more information on Service to the Armed Forces programs or other volunteer opportunities, see redcross.org/volunteer.