CBS course teaches Airmen life skills

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joseph Raatz
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  The 2nd Medical Group is offering a classroom-based approach to improving mental health and individual resilience.

The Cognitive Behavioral Skills course is designed to enable Airmen to come together and learn new skills for taking personal control of daily demands and struggles.

"The overall idea of the class is to provide basic skills that can improve daily life," said Capt. Marc Patience, 2nd Medical Operations Squadron staff psychologist. "I think there are a lot of other venues that try to accomplish the same goal, but in my experience they often seem to talk at you rather than with you. There tends to be a lot of PowerPoint and guest speakers getting up on stage, whereas this class is much more focused on 'let's sit down and talk this out; let's get specific to you and help make your everyday life better.'"

The CBS course focuses on four areas Airmen commonly report having issues with: behavioral obstacles and motivation, stress and relaxation, optimizing thought processes, and communication and relationships.

"We see those four areas time and time again being a hiccup, an area where people have trouble with at some time in their life," Patience said. "The prevalence rate of anyone having issues with one of these four areas during their time in service is likely quite high. There's a very high likelihood they'll struggle with at least one of them at some point, making them normal issues that may need guidance, but not a diagnosis. That's where the CBS course can help."

During each session in the four-part series, attendees come together and discuss either a behavioral, cognitive, relaxation or relationship skill, and work together to learn or process the theme. The classes are interactive, but focus more on learning the skill than directly confronting symptoms of any particular attendee.

"The CBS course is a great way for Airmen to learn how to engage in preventative maintenance of their mental health without the stigma people might sometimes associate with going to Mental Health." said Lt. Col. David Dickey, 2nd MDOS commander.

"Learning how to sustain mental health doesn't have to be clinical," Patience added. "That's where this course comes in. It's about providing a space where people can get together, be comfortable and learn real skills that can help them in their day-to-day lives."

The program has received good feedback so far, with people seeming to appreciate the interactive nature of the group and the focus on individual's strengths rather than symptoms or weaknesses, he said.

The CBS course is offered every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the third floor of the 2nd MDG clinic. To sign up, contact the Mental Health office at 318-456-6600. No referral is necessary to attend.