Eagle Project: Military Children's Behavioral Health Clinic

Description of Program:

Military families show amazing resilience and an ability to adapt to the unique situations in which they find themselves. However, additional support when dealing with overwhelming periods of stress is sometimes needed.

The Family Center developed the Eagle Project specifically to target the behavioral health needs of military communities. Techniques used at the Family Center have been shown to work effectively with families facing these types of challenges.

Providers combine their training in military life with expertise in identification and assessment of emotional health, and childhood behavioral disorders, leading to decreased stress and better overall well-being for the family.

Our Mission:

The mission of the military clinic is to provide trauma-informed mental health services to military families in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. Families receive excellent, client-centered services that promote the natural resilience that is part of their make-up. Treatment attends to aspects of military culture so that families achieve their highest level of functioning.

Signs and Symptoms:

Children of service members may experience difficulties or challenges before, during, or after deployment. The feelings or behaviors the child displays may change his or her level of functioning. Some symptoms to be aware of include:

• Depression
• Mood swings
• Irritability
• Tantrums
• Anxiety
• Acting overly mature
• Getting too much or not enough sleep
• Decreased interest in activities
• Isolating themselves
• Sudden changes in school grades
• Oppositional behaviors
• Engaging in risky behaviors
• Verbal or physical aggression
• Decrease in self-esteem
• Continuous talk about deployed parent
• Fearful behavior

Our Services:

The Family Center outpatient mental health and support services provide treatment for families experiencing:

• Re-integration process into the civilian life
• Pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment
• Relocation stress
• Grief and loss
• Ongoing issues of stress, loss, and changes
• Adjustment to changes in military parent
• Adjustment difficulties to temporary caregiver(s)
• Additional stress that a military spouse may experience before, during, or after a deployment

The Family Center offers a variety of trauma-informed and culturally sensitive services for prevention, early intervention, assessment, and treatment. Two interventions that have been found to be very helpful for military families are:

• FOCUS Project (Families Overcoming Under Stress): Provides resiliency training for military families facing the challenges of a deployed service member.
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Demonstrates effectiveness in helping families cope with a wide variety of stressful situations and traumatic experiences. Clinicians are trained in recognizing stressors and their impact on service members and their families.

For More Information:

For more information or to make a referral, please call (443) 923-5980, toll-free at (800) 873-3377, TTY (443) 923-5985.

Also, please feel free to download the informational brochure below to keep as a reference.

Related Materials and Information

The Eagle Project