Inaugural spouse resiliency training to take place March 29

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class DeVan Halstead
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

The L.I.F.E Center will be hosting a spouse resiliency training class March 29.

This course is designed for all military spouses regardless of their affiliation with a specific program or base unit.

Spouses who complete the course will receive a Spouse Resilience Trainer (SRT) Certification.

“Those who go through the course will be able to assist our Master Resiliency Trainers in providing military spouses with the skills to make it through moves, deployments, parenting, and other challenges that come with being a military spouse,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Brooke Garibay, 509th Bomb Wing Master Resiliency Coordinator.

According to Garibay there previously was no training like this on base.

“There is no true spouse resiliency training at Whiteman right now,” Garibay said. “They have the key spouse program, and the pre-deployment classes, but there is nothing that provides the whole military picture to all our spouses. We want to provide that here.”

Garibay said that the program will be especially useful to young and new military spouses.

“You have new spouses coming to Whiteman who are leaving their homes for the first time, and they don’t have that community factor,” Garibay said. “That is the goal of this program, to give them that community, allow them to understand what is going on, why their spouse is working fourteen hour days, and how they as spouses impact the mission at the end of the day.”

“If things aren’t good at home, things won’t be good at work,” said Garibay. “Spouses ultimately affect our military members and how the mission gets done, so they play a huge role in the military themselves.”

Spouses who wish to attend the training will have the choice of two different time blocks; 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 5: 00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Both blocks provide the same training and spouses may choose whichever time fits within their schedule.

Classes will be held at the L.I.F.E. Center, also known as the Leading Innovation and Fostering Engagement Center, which is located near the Youth Center and is across the street from the Base Chapel.

Spouses who are interested or have further questions may contact SSgt. Brooke Garibay at brooke.garibay@us.af.mil, brooke.garibay@yahoo.com, 660-687-3705 or, 816-673-6692.