You served your country, and now it is time to come home to a different type of duty: your family. Dynamics with your loved ones can be difficult to navigate when returning from deployment. Consider one of these retreats created specifically for military families to help ease the adjustment period.
Operation Purple Family Retreats
The retreats put on by Operation Purple allow families to learn new communication skills, enjoy the outdoors together and bond with others in similar situations. According to the website, families can take part in a variety of fun activities, from canoeing to birdhouse building, while creating new memories together. The National Military Family Association provides each family with a $200 stipend to help with travel costs. For more information or to apply, visit the NMFA website.
Operation Purple Healing Adventures
These retreats are specifically geared to help families to rediscover fun and intimacy after a member is injured in the line of duty. Through outdoor adventures and specially developed communication strategies, these three-day retreats aim to guide your family after a parent is injured. The healing adventures are free to military families and include food and lodging. Applications can be submitted on the National Military Family Association website.
While deployed, you can still help your family with daily life in your absence.
Lone Survivor Foundation Retreats
The Lone Survivor Foundation organizes retreats that focus on supporting veterans and service members who struggle with invisible injuries. These can include battles with post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain and military sexual trauma, among others, that have devastating effects on both the individual and family.The five-day retreats focus on coping skills, education and reducing the stress symptoms. All military backgrounds and branches are welcome, but there is an emphasis on service members and veterans of Operation New Dawn, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Learn more and fill out the application form at the Lone Survivor Foundation website.
Active Heroes Military Family Retreat Center
If you and your family enjoy camping, consider taking advantage of the Active Heroes Family Retreat Center. Located in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, the 144-acre retreat area is open to the public, as well as military families, allowing current and former servicemen to begin integrating into the public with the safety of military-only "Healing Areas" to retreat to for solitude. Starting in the summer of 2015, the retreat center will be free to military families and outings include a large meal, entertainment and seminars.
Project Sanctuary
Retreats put on by Project Sanctuary take advantage of the beauty of the Colorado wilderness to help you and your family connect and bond over six days and five nights. Free to military families, the retreats use recreational therapy methods to help bring down walls through fun activities, according to the group's website. Attendees also have access to professional counseling and family support services, such as classes devoted to improving your finances and marriage. Start the application process by visiting the Project Sanctuary website and filling out the initial application.