WIESBADEN, Germany -- Besides barbecue chicken, and mac and cheese, senior leaders will have another option on Soul Food Thursdays at the dining facility beginning Oct. 10. The monthly Soul Food for Senior Leaders program, will provide an opportunity for leaders to build relationships and discuss topics geared toward spiritual and ethical wellness.

Soul Food for Senior Leaders was designed as a venue for master sergeants and above; chief warrant officer 3s and above; majors and above; and civilian GS-13s, their equivalents, and above. It will be offered the second Thursday of each month from 11 a.m. to noon in the VIP Room at Strong Europe Café.

While not offered for junior and mid-grade personnel, the program will benefit them by benefitting their senior supervisors, said U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Chap. (Lt. Col.) Jeffrey Dillard.

"Wellness is more likely to trickle down than it is to trickle up," Dillard said. "The higher up you're promoted the more isolated you tend to be. You have fewer peers. You have more to lose, if you're going through a hard time, to be able to talk about it with some level of transparency."

Calendar invitations will be sent to senior leader command groups and include read-ahead information for each session. Sessions will include brief presentations by the facilitators, discussion, practical exercises and take-away exercises for leaders to use at home or within their units.

The first iteration of the program will be on The Five Levels of Leadership, presented by Dr. Clinton Lowin, the garrison director of Religious Education. The other topics for the first quarter will be assisting with grief and loss, presented by Federica LeMauk from Army Community Service in November, and emotional intelligence presented by Dillard in December.

"There are a lot of approaches in the military that if there's a need you develop a program," Dillard said. "In a way this is a program, but it's really a venue for relationships."

Soul Food for Senior Leaders is sponsored by the Commanders' Ready and Resilient Council's Spiritual and Ethical Working Group, which is led by Dillard and the 522nd Military Intelligence Battalion commander. The group includes representatives from Survivor Outreach Services, the Legal Office, Equal Opportunity and the Equal Employment Office. The CR2C's three working groups focus on providing services and programming to the community based on areas of concern identified by community members during a survey, which occurs every two years. The next Community Strengths and Themes Assessment is scheduled for spring 2020.

Editor's note: This story was updated from the original version published in the Sept. 19, 2019, Herald Union, to reflect updated dates and presentation topics for the program.