Media Contact: Don Hawkins
614-270-0535 | donald.hawkins@redcross.org

Resiliency facilitators and disaster educators from the Central & Southern Ohio Region of the American Red Cross provided wellness workshops and disaster preparedness sessions for military families at Camp Joy in Clarksville, Ohio as part of our Service to the Armed Forces partnership with Operation Purple Camp.

“The American Red Cross and Operation Purple Camp work together to bring opportunities for health and wellness for our military families across the nation,” said Angelique Carlson, Regional Service to the Armed Forces Supervisor. “Military families have shared with me how these Red Cross workshops have given their families the tools to have healthy, meaningful relationships during their military service and beyond and as a veteran myself, I find that incredibly fulfilling to offer these services in my role at the Red Cross.”

Effective Communication was the workshop held at the camp, it’s designed to help service members, veterans, and their families develop their communication skills in the areas of non-verbal, clarification seeking, self-reflection and “I” statement communication. Other workshops included the “Roger That!” Communication for Teens and the “Roger That!” Communication for Kids, helping ensure family members of all ages finished the day with newfound skills to help them better communicate with their families.

“A military spouse stopped our staff to thank them for providing this” Carlson said of an interaction after a workshop. “She and her spouse are geographically separated by multiple states and rarely get to just sit and talk. The spouse mentioned how these tools will help her family stay connected despite the distance.”

Military families taking part in the workshops mentioned how the skills learned there will help improve their active listening and willingness to understand their spouse’s point of view; how getting to share and discuss these things with other couples in attendance helped them better grasp the lessons; that they connected with the instructor and how some made new friends throughout the day.

Service to Armed Forces provides wellness workshops to military service members, veterans, and their families in-person and virtually. Do you have a group that would be interested in having a workshop or would you like to learn more? Please contact Angelique Carlson at (937)307-9640.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit Redcross.org/centralandsouthernoh or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or join us on Twitter and Facebook @ARCcsor.