US Navy and Marine reservists face unique challenges post-deployment that can cause increased stress and exacerbate psychological injuries sustained during service.
On behalf of the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, we help to deliver the Psychological Health Outreach Program (PHOP) at locations both in and outside the continental US. The PHOP mission is to ensure that reservists have full access to appropriate psychological healthcare services.
Our teams of counsellors, including clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists and mental health counsellors, provide comprehensive outreach services for reservists and their families, helping to facilitate recovery, reintegration and increased resilience for continued service. They also provide expert critical incident support.
In 2023, our PHOP teams conducted more than 1,000 briefs to more than 72,100 service members and family members and managed nearly 13,200 referrals, with more than 640 visits to US Navy and Marine reserve units.
Our PHOP teams manage each individual case and related incidents with care, approaching with deep understanding and empathy for the demands of military life and the psychological impacts it can have.
In one recent case, a Serco PHOP colleague navigated a very complex case involving Child Protective Services, focused on a service member and their child in a time of crisis. Our colleague had established a strong relationship of trust with the service member, who was suffering from mental health issues including a hoarding disorder. The scale of the hoarding was having a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of parent and child.
Through their relationship with the service member, our colleague helped them become receptive to support from a hoarding intervention team. Our colleague provided emotional support to the service member while the hoarding team removed approximately 800lbs. of trash from their home. Our colleague also connected the service member and their child to counselling services who were able to help stabilise both individuals. As a result of our colleague's efforts, the service member was able to maintain custody of the child.
In a separate incident, another Serco PHOP colleague was able to help an individual in crisis – the partner of a service member whom our colleague had met previously at a 'family day' event. This person called our colleague directly on the phone from the side of the road, overcome with thoughts about death by suicide.
Our colleague continued to engage them in conversation whilst alerting the service member and emergency services and waiting for them to arrive. Our colleague's ability to remain calm in such circumstances, and the trusting connection that had formed between them and this individual in crisis when they met, helped save the life of this member of the wider reservist community.
