FORT BENNING, Ga., (April 30, 2014) -- Never show emotion. You must handle everything on your own. Always act fast.
Participants of the "Hunting the Good Stuff and Building Mental Toughness" Family Resilience Training class Thursday admitted they used those phrases to handle life's challenges.
Facilitators Marcus Wilson and Angela Pate presented other options to use during stressful situations, whether at work or home, to develop positive thinking and decision-making skills.
"You can show emotion, but you can also regulate it," Wilson said to the class. "When you're dealing with a daunting task, you can ask for help and work with others as a team ... No man is an island."
Similar to what the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program offers to Soldiers, Army Community Service offers Family Resilience classes each month with tools and support for Fort Benning spouses, retirees and DA civilians to develop various skills for personal growth.
"We offer things that are already inside of them, but we help them to pull those out when they feel times are tough," Wilson said.
"We want people to be aware of how they function under pressure and what are the things that bother them and how can they deal with them better. We want them to bend, but not break."
The class teaches participants key skills of personal resilience, such as mental toughness and self-regulation, to looking for positive qualities of life. They also learn to develop the skills to solve problems by examining their thoughts about situations, identifying counterproductive thinking patterns and how core beliefs and values fuel emotions and reactions.
Army Community Service DA civilians are trained as master resilience trainers to teach classes and use CSF2 material based on studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Wilson and Pate engaged the class using personal experiences, such as dealing with rude drivers or an overwhelming list of chores at home, to show how a series of small situations can create a negative view of life.
"Through this training, you can learn not to let the little things bother you because you have the tools that we provide to deal with those little things," Pate said.
Jim Hall, an administrative assistant for Fisher Mill Distribution Center, said the class helped him to take more initiative on stress management and set a positive for coworkers and family members.
"I would like to be able to take these things and actually put them into practice more," Hall said. "I would tell others that it is well worth their time and they can really take this information and apply it. I would highly recommend it."
CSF2 Family Resilience training classes are held in the Survivor Outreach Services, Building 359, on Main Post at the corner of Vibbert and Ingersoll Avenues. The Family Advocacy Program provides childcare for daytime resilience training for free.
For more information, visit www.benningmwr.com/resiliency-training. To enroll, call Army Community Service at 706-545-4043, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday - Friday or enroll online.
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