Navy Program Reduces Family Stress

Week of May 10, 2010

The Navy's FOCUS, or Families Over Coming Under Stress, aims to reduce stress for military families. The goal is to offer practical help in situations where symptoms may be mild, acute or anywhere in between and also to remove the stigma from seeking assistance. FOCUS uses a color code to help families pinpoint current levels of stress. So far about 97,000 people have tried the program out at 10 Marine Corps and eight Navy locations. The staff at each site includes psychologists, social workers, licensed marriage family therapists and resilience trainers. Plans are underway to expand FOCUS to other branches of the military. The FOCUS website at www.focus.org contains a list of locations and more information about the program.

Learn more about Focus on Military.com.