Military & Veterans
Therapy for Military Families, We Understand You
Our practice holds a special place in our hearts for service members, military spouses, and dependents. A few of our counselors are military spouses themselves, and deeply understand the challenges and joys of living a military lifestyle. At Renewed Wellness we cannot wait to help you thrive on the military journey!
Trauma and Military Families: Therapy for Military Families in North Carolina Can Help
If you are a service member or military spouse, you have likely heard the word “trauma”. Usually, when we think of trauma in a military context, we only think of the service member. While trauma is an undisputed reality for our service members, spouses and families often face their own traumas within the military lifestyle.
Traumas experienced by service members might include:
Traumas faced by military spouses and families might include:
To learn more about the real and lasting impacts of trauma, please head to our trauma page.
Unique Dependent Challenges
Depending on the service member means you often face a myriad of difficulties and challenges. Often, spouses feel forced to put their lives on hold for the sake of the service member’s career and for the sake of the family. This can create a breeding ground for resentment within the family system.
Your living situation might also be in a constant state of flux, where you feel you could be uprooted at any time. You might avoid making relationships within the new community or school; or you might think “What is the point?”. With resentment inside the family and uncertainty outside of it, spouses often find themselves alone, isolated, and with an overwhelming sense they are without support.
You might also have a longing for the past; your old family home, your old friends now miles away, and your old school system. You miss your last community and way of life. Depression, anxiety, and grief are not uncommon. Sometimes, a sense of hopelessness might arise.
Therapy for Military Spouses in North Carolina
Spouses of service members might find themselves grappling and questioning their own sense of purpose and contribution to society. Employment challenges within the new community might frustrate a spouse’s career goals or prior career reality. For instance, a military spouse in a new state might need to take additional steps to meet license requirements before being able to work again. This might lead to both frustration and resentment. Or, a military spouse might not be able to find work in their chosen or desired work environment.
Not all challenges are negative. There’s a lot of positive to being a military dependent. An OCONUS move, promotion, or a new location comes with excitement and opportunity for new adventures! Our guess is that as a military dependent, you have felt the spectrum of emotions from thankfulness to frustration at some point in the service member’s career. This in itself can be stressful and talking through it with a counselor can be helpful.
Working through these unique difficulties is essential for the well-being of the service member, the dependents, and for the family system as a whole.
Separation from the Family
Even if a service member is not deployed, frequent and extended periods away from family can cause stress or create challenges in the partnership. Whether it is a temporary duty assignment in another state, an intensive training a few hours away, or unaccompanied orders, service members are often separated from their families. This separation can be painful, stressful, frustrating, and psychologically difficult for the whole family.
As a result of the separation, spouses may feel overwhelmed, overburdened and under-supported when it comes to managing the family and household. Spouses might desire more intimacy and quality time with their service member spouse. Children may miss their parent, and parents have to face their own grief while also attending to their children’s grief.
Dance recitals, baseball games, and plays are missed. First steps and graduations are sacrificed. Grief or depression settles in as this reality is ongoing, and many milestones pass by.
Anxiety, grief, and depression related to family separations are normal and can be attended to compassionately with the help of a professional counselor.
Separating from the Military
It is finally here; the long-anticipated DD-214. You feel excited and anxious to return home or start a new journey, and yet, there is a part of you that will miss the only world you have known for so long.
Many emotions emerge as you transition back into civilian life. While one is reunited with their family and friends, or new adventures in the civilian workforce, a new grief settles in as the military family and lifestyle is left behind. Processing these massive changes with a counselor can be a game-changer as you settle in to your new “normal”.
Communication in Military Families
Communication is the foundation of relational health. In military families, communication takes on an even greater significance. The lack of external support coupled with the multitude of physical, mental, and emotional transitions make effective and supportive communication key for family health.
Whether a service member or a civilian, many of us lack effective communication skills when it comes to our personal relationships. We might lead a team and communicate well in a professional setting, but when it comes to our home life our way of communicating crumbles. Our instinctual way of speaking to those we love might reflect generational dysfunction within our own families of origin.
Counselors help military families and military couples communicate in ways that support and bolster a successful partnership or family structure. We would love to help your family thrive!
Start Therapy for Military Families in New Bern, NC
You do not have to deal with the unique challenges and stressors of military service alone. Our skilled team of therapists know and understand the challenges you face and are here to walk this road with you. Get started with therapy at our online counseling practice in New Bern, NC with these steps:
- Fill out this consult form.
- Read about our skilled anxiety therapists.
- Begin living a life with less anxiety and more joy!
Other Services at Renewed Wellness
At our New Bern, NC-based therapy practice, we offer more than just Military and Veteran Counseling. Our therapists specialize specifically in trauma therapy, anxiety and stress counseling, and addiction counseling. For those going through a life change, we also offer life transition counseling. In fact, we can help you wherever you are in the state with online therapy in North Carolina and South Carolina. Let’s work together to get you to a good place!
