Director of Psychological Health gives Airmen outlet to cope with stress

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Mark Hybers
  • 507th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  In an effort to help Airmen cope with stress and other mental health related concerns, the Air Force Reserve Command is hiring Directors of Psychological Health.

The position stems from a study completed in June, 2007: An Achievable vision: Report of the Department Task Force on Mental Health. In February 2012, a Department of Defense instruction, DoDI 6490.09, called for licensed installation-level Directors of Psychological Health.

A guidance paper from AFRC headquarters says Air Force Reserve Directors of Psychological Health will utilize their unique education, knowledge, training and expertise to increase individual, unit, and wing readiness. The new position will also help Airmen and their families maximize psychological health, resilience and well-being so they can prevail over the unique challenges of the mission and life in and out of the military.

The 507th Air Refueling Wing hired Jacqueline Falkner and she not only brings the paper credentials to fulfill the requirements for the DPH position - she also understands military life as she's a retired Air Force senior master sergeant.

Falkner has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in social work, both received after she retired.

"I had an assessment done after I got out and it told me I'd be good working with people," she said. "I didn't really know what my career path was going to be until I got into school and discovered I really, liked the psychology and social work aspect."

Falkner's Air Force career was not in the health field but rather in the logistics and civil engineering fields. But Falkner said, as she progressed in rank, she discovered she really enjoyed mentoring Airmen.

"I did quite a bit of mentoring and helping Airmen through stressful situations," she said. "But it was as a supervisor, supervisee. The social work aspect was there, just not first and foremost due to my position."

She went on to say, "It wasn't until after I got into the social work field that I realized I had been doing this (social work) all along."

AFRC now has five of the 29 slots filled. The reserve DPH program is modeled after the active duty DPH. For now, DPH's will only provide limited clinical services consisting of an initial evaluation and short-term problem resolution, no more than eight visits, and only for beneficiaries eligible to receive services in the military healthcare system.

Falkner believes a major reason the position was added for reservists benefits had to do with the fact that members have no access to active duty doctors during unit training assembly weekends.

"When reservists are here on UTA weekends, the hospital is closed, so what are we doing for our active duty we can also do for our reservists," Falkner said. "This is where the DPH comes in."

Falkner says her main function is to provide an initial assessment to determine if she can help the member. If it's something more than the eight sessions will allow, or beyond her scope of training, then she will assist the members in finding other resources to receive the help they need.

"There are a lot of resources available that our members don't know about," she said. "Military OneSource is a big component for our members. Even if they don't have health insurance to get help on the outside, we have some resources to get them the help they need."

Falkner is also going to be active in the community, and will champion the reservist's cause while serving on the community action information board. She will be able to use this base-wide tool to help get the needs of the reserves into the proper hands.

"Let's say I have an Airman who is having extreme anxiety and high stress levels due to fitness issues and there isn't a gym on base that is conducive to reserve schedules," Falkner says. "The community action information board is the place where those issues concerning reservists will be brought up to see if there is any way to help."

Falkner has worked or been involved with the Department of Social Services, Family Advocacy, Airman Family Readiness, Casualty Affairs Officer, Exceptional Family Member Coordinator and the Wounded Warrior Project.

She is located in the basement of the 507th ARW headquarters building and is available during the week and UTA weekends. For more information or to schedule an appointment, email her at jacqueline.falkner.1@us.af.mil or call 734-6347. Appointments and phone calls are confidential and your records are stored safely.