DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable: Navy Seeks to Reduce Sailors’ Stress

Filed under Bloggers Roundtable by on December 11, 2009 at 2:23 pm {one comment}

By Ian Graham

People complain about stress daily, and treatment for stress has become a large industry within the mental health field. But few know stress as well as servicemembers, who routinely face long workdays, intense physical activity and high operational tempo – not to mention the risks of being deployed to a war zone.

U.S. Navy Capt. Lori A. Laraway, coordinator of the U.S. Navy’s Operational Stress Control (OSC) Program and U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bonnie R. Chavez, Navy’s Behavioral Health Program Manager Navy Suicide Prevention and OSC policies, spoke to bloggers during a DoDLive Blogger’s Roundtable Dec. 10 about the mental health issues sailors face and how the Navy works to prevent and remedy them.

To listen to the audio from the roundtable, click here.

To read the transcript from the roundtable, click here.

To read the article, visit Defense.gov, click here.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable: U.S. Navy Capt. Lori A. Laraway and U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bonnie R. Chavez

Filed under Bloggers Roundtable by on December 8, 2009 at 8:08 am {no comments}
U.S. Navy Capt. Lori A. Laraway, coordinator, Navy’s Operational Stress Control (OSC) Program

U.S. Navy Capt. Lori A. Laraway, coordinator, Navy’s Operational Stress Control (OSC) Program

On Thursday, Dec. 10, at 12:00 p.m. ET, U.S. Navy Capt. Lori A. Laraway, coordinator, Navy’s Operational Stress Control (OSC) Program and U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bonnie R. Chavez, Navy’s Behavioral Health Program Manager working on Navy Suicide Prevention and OSC policies will join the Roundtable.

Laraway and Chavez will discuss how Operational Stress Control seeks to create an environment where sailors, commands and families can thrive in the midst of stressful operations. Just as world-class athletes gain the winning edge by using every means at their disposal, our world-class sailors need to employ all means available to stay fit and ready and to seek assistance for stress reactions before they become stress problems.

The Navy views asking for assistance and guidance for stress issues as a sign of strength, not weakness. OSC is a line-owned program supported by, but not driven by, Navy Medicine. OSC is about navigating the stress that everyday living and everyday operations throw at us.

To listen live, click here.

DotMilDocs: Suicide Prevention Month

Filed under DotMilDocs by on September 23, 2009 at 12:27 pm {one comment}

On Thursday, Sept. 24 at 3 p.m. ET, we will interview Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bonnie R. Chavez, Ph.D. who currently serves as Navy’s Behavioral Health Program Manager working on Navy Suicide Prevention and Operational Stress Control policies. Chavez will discuss the four elements of the Navy’s Suicide Prevention Program: training, intervention, response, and reporting. For more information on suicide and suicide prevention please see the Navy Web site at http://www.suicide.navy.mil.

To listen to the interview, click here.

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    Famed Yankees pitcher “Lefty Gomez” once remarked “I’d rather be lucky than good,” but for one Tuskegee Airman, luck and good combined to make him one of the most successful combat pilots of World War II.

    During the summer of 1944, 2nd Lt. Clarence D. “Lucky” Lester was flying the P-51 Mustang over the skies of Italy’s Po Valley providing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with cover support on their way to attack airfields in southern Germany.

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