ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (November 21, 2016) -- As the holiday season approaches, the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command's, or ATEC, Master Resiliency Team conducted a resiliency session at ATEC Headquarters Nov. 17, to recognize early signs of stress and depression, along with the different coping mechanisms.
Different from previous resiliency sessions, ATEC partnered with Kirk U.S. Army Health Clinic and the Military and Family Life Counseling, or MFLC, Program, two organizations located on Aberdeen Proving Ground.
"The reason we [ATEC] partnered with two other organizations for this month's resiliency training is to help spread the awareness of how to manage stress to as many people on the installation as possible, to help in preventing the chances of depression," said ATEC Ready and Resilient Program Manager, Diana Reeves.
Staff Sgt. Terryn A. Ross, a noncommissioned officer in charge at Behavioral Health with Kirk U.S. Army Health Clinic, presented the first half of the session, which focused on depression.
Ross defined depression as a normal human emotion that occurs when someone becomes sad and can no longer control it. "It doesn't matter your gender or your age, it's all about how someone copes in a particular situation they face."
Ross explained in depth the four different types of intensity levels of depression including mild depression, moderate depression, severe depression and extreme depression.
"Regardless of the level, the important thing to take away from this is that if it has been longer than two weeks that you are unable to cope with situations by yourself through self-help techniques [exercising, venting, sleep, reading, etc.], you will need to reach out to someone for help because it's no longer in your control," said Ross.
In-between sessions, ATEC's Command Sgt. Maj. Andrew B. Connette expressed a few words to the workforce in regards to the way people view depression.
"At one time, many people thought depression was a sign of weakness but over the past decade, we have worked hard to get rid of that stereotype because we recognize that it's not true," said Connette. "Depression can happen to anyone."
Robert Zendle, a counselor with the MFLC Program, presented the second half of the session, which focused on maintaining balance and building stress resiliency.
"Everyone has some kind of stress in their life. It can be the good kind of stress and it can also be the bad kind of stress," said Zendle. "It has the power to affect you mentally, physically, emotionally and behaviorally."
"With the upcoming holiday season, there is a way to help prevent that," said Zendle.
Zendle encouraged the audience to plan ahead and get an early start on things [cooking, shopping, and cleaning] before the holidays. "By doing this, it will give you the opportunity to spend time with your family and friends and not have to worry about last minute things."
Zendle ended the session by relating resiliency with stress. "The more you learn how to deal with stress, the more resilient you will become."
ATEC's next resiliency training session will be held at ATEC HQ on Dec. 8 at 9 a.m. to discuss how to 'keep the holidays in perspective', which will be presented by Jennifer Eichner, chief of the Army Community Service.
For those interested in learning more about ATEC Ready and Resilient efforts, visit www.atec.army.mil/r2c. For those who are active duty along with their dependents who are interested in the MFLC Program, call 443-417-5612. For those who are active duty, dependents, retirees, and others with Tricare Prime and interested in the Behavior Health Program, call 410-278-1715.
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