TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- “Contending with Change” was the topic of the 72nd Air Base Wing Civilian Mentoring Council event Oct. 26 at the General James E. Hill Conference Center at Tinker Air Force Base.
Employee Assistance Program Counselor Stephanie Lewis presented to and engaged with 27 CMC members.
The presentation centered around the seven stages people experience with change: losing focus, minimizing the impact, falling into ‘the pit,’ letting go of the past, testing the limits, searching for meaning and integrating.
Lewis discussed natural reactions to each stage and ways to move past them. She drew on changes in her own life, sharing the difficulty she had when her family relocated to Oklahoma from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, for her husband’s job.
“Attitude is important. How terrible would it have been if I would have come to Oklahoma begrudgingly, not a happy camper. I could have made my whole family feel miserable,” Lewis said.
“Once you get to the integrating part, how easy is it for me to now tell somebody who’s brand new to Oklahoma what to expect when they don’t know what to do.”
Lewis used activities throughout the discussion, such as having participants fill out a ‘social readjustment rating scale’ quiz to score the number of significant changes, positive and negative, they have experienced in the last year.
CMC Vice President Justin Kuefler, chief of the curriculum development and delivery office with the 72nd Force Support Squadron, said the event was planned because “change is the only constant.”
“So much does change in our workplaces ... Especially as civilians having military leadership, that leadership changes every couple of years and you have to adapt to new leadership,” Kuefler said.
CMC will begin a new pairing process for mentors and mentees, for interested 72nd ABW employees. More information about CMC events can be found on their Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/206533213457289/.