BTM17- Military Exceptional Family Member Program
Show Summary
On this episode of Behind the Mission, the 2019 AFI Navy Spouse of the Year, Michelle Norman, joins the show to talk about advocating for military families with special needs children and Partners in PROMISE, a grassroots organization focused on educating, advising and advocating for exceptional military families and their education.
About Today’s Guest
Michelle Norman is a Navy spouse of over 25 years and mother of a 17-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy. She is the Executive Director and Founder of Partners in PROMISE, a non-profit organization focused on educating, advising and advocating for exceptional military families and their education. After years of successfully advocating and winning multiple legal cases to ensure her daughter receives the minimum education required by law, Norman was contacted by multiple military families across the country dealing with similar problems in public schools. Realizing that so many children will benefit from her dedicated efforts, the Virginia Beach resident has become a passionate advocate for military children with special needs and their families. Michelle has been recognized for her military family advocacy efforts with the 2020 Heroes at Home Military Spouse of the Year Award for Hampton Roads and the 2019 AFI Navy Military Spouse of the Year Award.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
The PsychArmor resource for this week is the PsychArmor series of Stress First Aid Courses for Caregivers. Many caregivers are not just caregivers for their wounded, ill or injured service member or veteran, but a caregiver for their special needs child, as Michelle is. The Stress First Aid series is a set of seven courses that discusses the various stressors that caregivers are presented with on a daily basis and details the importance of self-care. Dr. Patricia Watson of the National Center for PTSD presents tools and coping mechanisms caregivers can use by highlighting five core essential elements. Psycharmor hopes that these courses will aid the great resilience our caregivers demonstrate constantly as they tirelessly attend to both the visible and invisible wounds of our American heroes.
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com