As Fort Leonard Wood prepares to serve families of deployed soldiers, military family life consultants are seeking places away from the installation where they can counsel families of military personnel.
Many services are available on post, so why establish branch locations elsewhere?
According to Lynn Morgan of Army Community Service, that’s either to provide convenience to people who don’t want to drive to the post or to provide anonymity for those who would rather seek help away from the installation.
“It’s totally confidential, there are no records kept and sometimes soldiers and families are afraid to go into the hospital for fear of what might be entered into some records, because they just want to talk to someone,” Morgan said.
Locations have already been established in St. Robert, Lebanon and Rolla, Morgan said, but a high priority is to get locations in Dixon and Plato.
“I mentioned Dixon and Plato because those were the first two areas that came to my mind in which I know we have families located, and I know that there are other areas as well, but I couldn’t list them all,” Morgan said. “We are trying to provide outreach and take our services to them.”
That’s especially important with rising gasoline prices, she said.
“With rising gas prices, (families) are making tough choices, and some of these choices are things family life consultants can help them with,” Morgan said.
Having an off-post location avoids needing to go through a security check and makes services easier to reach as well as saving gas, Morgan said. Those interested in volunteering or suggesting an off-post location should try to recommend locations with plenty of parking that are easy to find and convenient for residents, she said.
What’s happening at Fort Leonard Wood today is modeled after an earlier program used in Germany for deployed spouses, Morgan said.
“It was realized to be of such value that the Department of Defense elected to make this a centralized contract for all branches of the service, and then the Department of the Army has even added to that basic DOD contract,” Morgan said. “(We have) a realization that there haven’t been enough resources to reach out to all of the family members. On the medical side of the house, there’s a huge shortage of doctors and in the mental health profession. This is a way to meet the needs of the community.”
While confidentiality is a priority, Morgan said it’s a misunderstanding that soldiers will be penalized for seeking help with family problems.
“There has been for as long as I know, a little bit of concern that commanders will become aware that a soldier or a family member is reaching out for some help, while actually that is probably the healthiest thing they can do that they recognize the need to talk to someone, that they have some issues that need to be addressed,” Morgan said.
Military family life consultants Donna Smith and Holly Gardner said their consultants provide a wide variety of services ranging from training family readiness group leaders on what resources are available to support families to providing a listening ear for family members who need help understanding the Army and what it offers to families.
Smith said same-day appointments can usually be arranged even at the off-post locations in Rolla and Lebanon.
“We have additional consultants here at Fort Leonard Wood,” Smith said. “We know you’re going through a lot of deployments, family members are going through a stressful time right now, and so we’ve actually expanded our services to offer services here on the installation and off the installation as well.”
Smith said she understands some people may feel more comfortable traveling to Rolla or Lebanon  even if they live in St. Robert or Fort Leonard Wood.
“We’ve got a couple of people in Rolla who have dedicated a portion of their schedule and blocked out times in the evening, 10 hours a week for both individuals, where they’re dedicating their time just for military service members and their families. They will not see any other person during that time period,” Smith said. “If you’ve got somebody who may not be comfortable seeing one of our consultants on the installation and want to go to Rolla and see someone, just give us a call  and we’ll schedule that appointment for them.”