{"id":55259,"date":"2023-12-02T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=55259"},"modified":"2023-12-04T02:19:01","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T02:19:01","slug":"religious-support-teams-caregivers-collaborate-in-okinawa-self-care-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=55259","title":{"rendered":"Religious support teams, caregivers collaborate in Okinawa self-care event"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The Okinawa Care for Caregivers Symposium was held Oct. 24-27, 2023, at Torii Station, Japan, to better inform those who help others of the self-care resources available to them. The symposium, which the 10th Support Group\u2019s unit ministry team hosted, focused on providing self-care tools to Army, Navy and Air Force religious support teams, while allowing them to collaborate with various enablers on Okinawa and discuss ideas on how to stay resilient.
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan \u2013 The first-ever Okinawa Care for Caregivers Symposium was recently held at Torii Station to better inform those who help others of the self-care resources available to them.<\/p>\n

The symposium, which the 10th\u00a0Support Group\u2019s unit ministry team hosted, focused on providing self-care tools to Army, Navy and Air Force religious support teams, while allowing them to collaborate with various enablers on Okinawa and discuss ideas on how to stay resilient.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis joint and interoperability effort enhances readiness by equipping our UMTs and enablers to connect our Soldiers to the valuable resources in the community,\u201d said Chaplain (Maj.) Neal Muasa, the lead organizer.<\/p>\n

About 25 individuals participated in the event, including Col. J.P. Smith, command chaplain for U.S. Army Japan, and Lt. Col. Damon Saxton, chaplain for U.S. Army Garrison Japan.<\/p>\n

Smith said a similar event may be held at Camp Zama in the future to ensure its community of enablers can come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always take care of Soldiers, and we always take care of families, but what do we do to take care of ourselves?\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re not taking care of ourselves, we\u2019re going to be in a position where we\u2019re burned out, we\u2019re tired and we\u2019re not able to give Soldiers our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the recent event, which took place Oct. 24 through 27, Saxton conducted training and led an interbranch, multidiscipline panel discussion on self-care for helping professionals.<\/p>\n

Saxton, who previously served in a special operations unit, said the topic was very close to him, as caregivers can sometimes endure trauma vicariously when they see or hear the effects of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had heard some really tough things and had a couple of guys that had taken their own lives because of some of the experiences that they had,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was really hard, and I had to seek help from another caregiver to kind of get me back in the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

By sharing his own story, Saxton hoped to convince others to seek assistance when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure that everybody there, as they experience these challenging situations that we do in the field of caregiving, that they take care of themselves and each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Saxton said he appreciated how the UMTs on Okinawa brought everyone together for the event, which also had a kayaking physical training session led by the 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group chaplain and a devotional by the 78th Signal Battalion chaplain.<\/p>\n

The symposium concluded with remarks by the 10th SG commander, followed by a visit to the historic Hacksaw Ridge during a tour of Battle of Okinawa sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all different units, but they all take care of each other,\u201d Saxton said. \u201cI think every time that we get the opportunity to work together, to see each other\u2019s strengths, [being able] to build those relationships is absolutely key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the event, Smith said UMTs shared best practices for self-care and interacted with each other and with military\u00a0and\u00a0family life counselors, behavioral health specialists and other enablers in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to basically learn from one another,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re operating in isolation, you\u2019re only understanding one perspective. We were able to hear from multiple perspectives, so when we walk away, we walk away with new tools on how to better care for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the lessons learned that was discussed was using a journal to take time to intentionally reflect on one\u2019s work being accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we know that we are being value-added and we\u2019re making a difference, it kind of keeps you energized,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to reflect on that, because otherwise we\u2019re just on the go. We have to slow it down every now and then and process through the difference that it is actually making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith also suggested having breaks throughout the workday to reduce stress. He said he may take three to four short breaks, in addition to a lunch break, to walk around, breathe and relax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about staying sharp,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised at how well you will end up being when you do certain things like that [and] put certain mechanisms in place for yourself to where you stay sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. Army Garrison Japan news<\/a><\/p>\n

USAG Japan official website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Okinawa Care for Caregivers Symposium was held Oct. 24-27, 2023, at Torii Station, Japan, to better inform those who help others of the self-care resources available to them. The symposium, which the 10th Support Group\u2019s unit ministry team hosted, focused on providing self-care tools to Army, Navy and Air Force religious support teams, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55261,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55262,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55259\/revisions\/55262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}