A&FRC improves work, life through program

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – Wright-Patterson’s Airman & Family Readiness Center is working to help people deal with life’s stresses to improve quality of life and mission readiness.

A&FRC’s Personal Work Life Program and Military Family Life Counselor provides myriad classes from life skills to customized counseling to help every Airmen, be they military, civilian, retirees, their families or contractors, receive the assistance they need to perform at their best.

“This program can help them because it’s designed so that they can be mission ready, and that’s for anyone,” said Jacqueline Shazor, A&FRC Community Readiness specialist. “Our missions affect all of us within our units and surroundings. If I’m not getting along with my coworkers [or having difficulties at home], these classes can help me understand them and allow me to work better with them.”

A few of the topics A&FRC classes address are stress management, time management, bullying, single parenting, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, conflict management, divorce and grief – not only in the case of death, but even the grief children might feel when leaving for a new duty station and learning to deal with leaving their friends or grandparents behind, according to Shazor.

A&FRC offers training as part of lunchtime classes for anyone with base access. Attendees should call the A&FRC front desk at 937-257-3592 to sign up, but walk-ins are welcomed if space allows. A&FRC staff will even bring classes to offices to train groups to benefit the entire work center.

Besides the classes A&FRC offers, the MFLC offers personalized services to military members and their families to deal with issues before they get out of hand.

“If you’re feeling stressed, have anxiety or if things are going on at home or work, we work on those kinds of things with you before it gets to be a full-blown problem,” said Ami Olinger, A&FRC MFLC. “Talking about the beginning of year resolutions, we always think of physical things, but it’s really about connecting with people to become a better person, a better dad, mom, wife or friend. So, we help you find ‘what are the thing that I need to change within me to be able to do that?’”

Olinger is a licensed counselor in the state of Ohio and doesn’t take notes, or even names if clients don’t want to share, in providing confidential counseling that does not go back to leadership – the only exceptions being legally-mandated Duty to Warn and abuse circumstances.

“People think ‘If I go to counseling, then there’s something wrong with me’ but that’s not it. It’s just becoming a healthier version of yourself and everybody needs that,” Olinger said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, how old you are or how much money you make; it doesn’t matter because you can always be better than you were yesterday.”

And improving work and life is what the A&FRC’s Personal Work Life Program and MFLC is intended to accomplish. Whether through life skills training classes or personalized counseling, skilled A&FRC staff are focused on making things better, according to Shazor.

“We’re about keeping the Air Force family together and making sure that everyone is taken care of,” Shazor said.