In a press last week, Department of Defense representatives from the Office of Military Community and Family Policy provided an update of ongoing quality of life issues for military families throughout the country.

In particular the director for military community support programs in the Office of Military Community and Family Policy, Lee Kelley provided an overview of three issues affecting the military community: spouse employment, a new information program, and counseling services for service members.

Lee said that the Virtual Military Spouse Symposium in April brought 4,000 spouses in attendance.

“We also recently held our Virtual Hiring Fair through the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, bringing almost 700 military spouses to visit more than 100 companies who participate in the partnership, who are committed to spouse hiring,” said Kelley.

The second area of is a new initiative developed by the Office of People Analytics called REACH — Resources Exist, Asking Can Help. The program is focused on dispelling the myths around help-seeking, as well as COVID-19. “We’re now focusing more on a virtual delivery with the goal, again, of dispelling the myths of help-seeking, normalizing the experience of help-seeking, removing stigma that might exist for our service members and families.”

The final area of focus is an initiative by Military OneSource to reduce the stigma of service members seeking counseling. “We’ve been focused on a public-facing relationship campaign to help pull back the curtain on what relationship support looks like for couples in the military, and we’re looking internally at how we provide that relationship support to determine how we can do it in the most effective manner possible,” Kelley said.