Real Talk: Mental Health By Jenny Lynne Stroup, Outreach Coordinator for the Cohen Clinic at VVSD
Permanent Change of Station As summer draws to a close, so does the height of PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season. This summer, my family PCS’d for the first time in five years. What started as a ten-month assignment ended up spanning three commands and five years. For me, this PCS meant going back home - to the place where I was born and raised. I was and am excited about being back here. Yet, there was a lot I left behind - friends, community, my favorite spots to grab coffee, and the support systems I relied on to handle the stressors that come with military life, to name a few.
It’s easy, in the midst of the packing and the driving and the planning and the rush of the “new,” to forget that the weight of this change will come crashing in about the same time I finally find my good dishes, and that all of the things I left are the very things that helped me navigate the other changes and challenges that life often brings. About two weeks after most of the boxes are unpacked and we’ve settled into our new residence, I realize I’ve spent the majority of those nights on the couch with a pint of ice cream staring blankly at whatever show is on Netflix.
Taking Charge of Your Mental Health During PCS Season
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WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / August 2021
