LVMAC Tidbit — Spiritual Fitness Training Offered by Army OneSource on 15 July

Army OneSource has launched a formal campaign to engage faith leaders and counselors in providing services and support to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of soldiers and their families.  It wishes to raise the awareness of the role that faith communities can play and to  provide them resources to reach out to soldiers and their families within a community.  This is the first time we have seen this initiative being put into practice Pennsylvania and therefore want to let you know about it.

Why?  Because soldiers are returning home with emotional and spiritual wounds that are harder to identify and more difficult to treat.  Additionally, family members often feel a sense of insecurity, loss, and ineffectiveness, being confused about the changes they see in their returning loved ones.  The result for some are feelings of rejection, despair, abandonment, and hopelessness — and the questioning of their faith and spiritual beliefs.

While the initial design would be expected to focus on Army members, the fact is the training is available to spiritual leaders and counselors to assist any veteran, no matter the branch of service.  The effort to form state alliances of faith-based organizations in Pennsylvania is otherwise impracticable.  The initiative is called the Pennsylvania Military Spiritual Wellness Alliance.

Click here to get more information and to enroll.

By the way, some well-known national partner organizations support this effort:  The Campus Crusade Military Ministry, Military Missions Network and The Navigators, for example

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As of 3 June 2015