FOCUS
Our second major hurdle is to create an unaccompanied tours community when families are scattered not
only throughout the U.S. but throughout the world. Only about 25 percent
of the family members (including
spouses, partners, adult children, parents, siblings) on our contact list reside
in the Washington, D.C., area. Families residing at an overseas post during
the separation may already have that
sense of community, but even they are
not always prepared for the challenges an unaccompanied
assignment poses.
So how does this community connect? One mechanism
is the HomeFrontUS Yahoo group. This is intended as a
means for family members with a loved one serving at a
high-threat, unaccompanied post to communicate with others in a similar situation. Members include parents, partners, spouses, fiancés, “friendly exes” and adult children, as
well as veteran UT employees. When new members introduce themselves, they will often include their city and
state; this allows group members in close proximity to find
each other. People also get in touch
through events sponsored by FLO.
Families in the D.C. area, for example,
attend an annual fall gathering and continue to stay in contact with one another.
FLO is exploring several other ways
to connect this geographically dispersed
community. Among the ideas we are
considering are: a SharePoint site, a
family-to-family (as well as peer-to-peer) mentoring/sponsorship program,
and an expansion of MHN services to better utilize available technology. We hope to launch some of these initiatives during 2009.
The allowances and
regulations applicable to
employees serving in
unaccompanied positions
and their family
members vary greatly.
Support for Families with Children
Two initiatives that have received rave reviews from
parents and children alike are our workbooks and medals
programs. Through a generous donation from the Una
Chapman Cox Foundation, FLO has developed age-appropriate handbooks for children with an employee parent on an unaccompanied assignment. We have sent out
What Is MHN?
Due to the geographic dispersal of many Foreign Service ing, MHN has a network of counselors throughout the United
employees and family members, FLO and CLO may States who will see a family member up to three times per pre-have limited direct contact with clients. The Web and senting issue at no charge to the family. These services are
telephone services offered through our contract with MHN, a meant to supplement the confidential counseling the State De-health care network, are available to employees and family partment already provides through Employee Consultation
members worldwide to meet their potential needs. This is the Services, which is staffed during Washington, D.C., work
third year that the company has had the contract to provide hours. Some individuals may rely on family, a clergy member,
supplemental resources and support to the community be- good friends, their long-time doctor or a combination of these
fore, during and after unaccompanied assignments. to meet their counseling needs and may not seek network as-
With a password provided by FLO, MHN’s portal is acces- sistance. Regardless of the source, it is important that people
sible from any computer — either in the quiet of home or at receive the support they need.
work — to learn about emotional health, health and fitness, Approximately six times a year, we offer a joint FLO/MHN
and family and work issues. The site is available in English orientation session to familiarize employees and family mem-and Spanish and contains interactive self-assessments, arti- bers with the services offered. To accommodate the varied
cles and exercises to help manage stress, insomnia, depres- time zones and locations of our clients, we offer the session in
sion and other reactions to an unaccompanied tour. There is the FLO offices (for those in the D.C. area) and also by simul-also a specific section devoted to managing an unaccompa- taneous webcast and conference call dial-in that are free for
nied tour. participants. We use this same format for training sessions
For those who may wish to actually speak to a counselor, throughout the year, most recently the “Coping with the Stress
the toll-free, 24/7 MHN hot line offers assessment and refer- of Change” program offered in December 2008. Other popu-ral in more than 160 languages. For Eligible Family Members lar sessions have been “Parenting in a Time of Crisis” and
and Members of Household who prefer face-to-face counsel- “Building Healthy Families.”
