You can H.A.S. a happier life

Tinker’s Family Advocacy center offers numerous services which are structured to build and strengthen resiliency. Among them are courses available to active and retired military, their families, and civilians on the base, which are designed for parents or expectant parents, couples and individuals.

Healthy Thinking, Anger, Stress, Self-Care, or H.A.S., is a class offered specifically for individuals to help target and manage those components of personal and mental health. The objective of the course is to teach different ways of expressing and reducing feelings of anger, learning and practicing techniques to deal with stress, and learn how unproductive thinking patterns contribute to problems in an individual’s life. H.A.S. seeks to create a better and healthier balance in life, while maintaining and practicing positive self-care.

The H.A.S. class is taught by Joyce Atlee and Audra Feisal, Family Advocacy outreach managers with Tinker’s Family Advocacy Outreach.

Ms. Feisal teaches the first two sessions, which include healthy thinking and anger management. She said that there is a wide variety of individuals who attend and complete the course.

Participants may enroll themselves voluntarily in the course, but often times, Ms. Feisal said, individuals may be referred from mental health or family advocacy, their supervisors or family members and friends. Although H.A.S. classes are designed to create a better life balance and delve a bit into the development or effects of one’s thoughts, feelings or even actions, Ms. Feisal establishes at the beginning of each session that there is no processing or analyzing of past experiences. So, she may then refer individuals on to Employee Assistance Programs, mental health or specific therapy sessions.

A personal goal for Ms. Feisal, and for making the course more appealing and realistic, is to truly be as relatable as possible. The most difficult part of this particular job, Ms. Feisal said, is that everyone obtains their information differently. For example, people may seek information from the internet via a quick Google search, while others have a more “old school” approach and research by encyclopedias. Point being, that individuals may be less likely to enroll or find class time worth their attention if they are able to access the same kind of information from other resources.

While the courses are not mandated, Ms. Feisal thinks it would benefit everyone and serve as a positive influence. Sometimes, she said, people may take the course more than once as a refresher, or attend a single session as it pertains to the individual’s needs.

The class has seen better results when a more interactive approach is taken, Ms. Atlee described. Making sessions more appealing can be difficult when it pertains to anger management and stress, but the Family Advocacy Outreach team has made efforts to teach techniques that emphasize ways to increase the amount of joy in one’s life, and make time for proper self-care.

H.A.S. is a four-session class, operating on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule for two consecutive weeks. Ms. Atlee, who leads the last two components, stress and self-care, said that they have found two sessions per week over a two week period has produced better turnout and results.

“It is easier for people to make all four sessions when they are closer together and not strung out over a month’s time, especially if it is someone going TDY,” Ms. Atlee said.

Unlike every other service offered through Family Advocacy, H.A.S. is the only class which is offered monthly. Some classes may be recurring services, but are only on a quarterly schedule. Though it is required to conduct anger management courses quarterly, Ms. Atlee said Family Advocacy was constantly receiving phone calls from people who had to wait a month or two before the next available class. In order to meet the demands of the public, H.A.S. classes moved to a monthly basis.

Check the calendar for Family Advocacy, as there are various courses and services designed for a wide range of people. Classes may include baby basics, CPR, active parenting of teens, rhythm kids, a PREP (prevention and relationship enhancement program), communications and offender psycho-education groups. For more information, call 582-6604.