Officer Safety & Wellness
By : Dr . Anna Courie , Director of Responder Wellness , FirstNet Program at AT & T
Are you Ready ?
Back in 2002 , the First Infantry Division , U . S . Army , in Wurzburg , Germany , was preparing for its first 12-15-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . I was their health promotion and wellness coordinator and I remember sitting down with the leadership about my role in deployment health and wellness . The guidance I received at the time was : “ Anna , I want the spouses to come out of this deployment feeling stronger than they did going in .”
With that direction , I began building out a year-long effort for the spouses to “ Walk to Iraq and Back ” while their loved one deployed . We walked , ran , biked , swam , volunteered , prayed , and built each other up through that deployment . When I say , “ we ,” I include myself because my husband was deployed as well . “ We ” is also indicative of the community building that occurred across people , units , organizations , and programs that became a part of “ Walk to Iraq .”
EARNING THE MILES
The entire military community framed its programs and resources in terms of “ miles ” the spouses could earn towards their goal of walking to Iraq and back , while focusing on different aspects of health and wellness . It was clear the entire community was working together toward a specific goal .
With several thousand participants , “ Walk to Iraq ” became a lifeline of forging through a difficult time for many people . And with that experience , we sowed the first seeds of my philosophy on health and wellness : “ How do you face tough things and come out of them stronger ?” At the heart of this philosophy is resilience .
DEFINING RESILIENCE
The American Psychological Association ( APA ) defines resilience as “ the process of adapting well in the face of adversity , trauma ,
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