Military and Family Support Center

Military and Family Support Centers provide information, education and support programs to help balance the demands of military life. Offerings include:

• Deployment support to assist you and your family during all phases of the deployment cycle. Learn more about deployment support.
• Relocation assistance to help you prepare for an upcoming move and get settled into your new location. Learn more about the military Relocation Assistance Program.
• Confidential non-medical clinical counseling provides support for a wide range of issues from marital conflicts and stress management to coping with grief and deployment adjustments Learn more about confidential non-medical counseling.
• Personal and family life education assists with developing knowledge and skills to help you navigate your mobile military life.
• Personal financial readiness assists you and your family in building and maintaining your financial readiness.
• Employment assistance supports career exploration, education, training and licensing, career connections and employment readiness for military spouses, transitioning service members, and other family members. Learn more about the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program, or SECO.
• Information and referral can assist you in identifying and clarifying needs and locating and connecting to services and programs available both on and off your installation.
• Morale, Welfare and Recreation, or MWR services provide lots of ways for you to connect with friends and others for entertainment, rest and relaxation — all at reduced or no cost. Learn more about MWR programs and services.
• The Transition Assistance Program provides the information, skills and knowledge necessary for a successful transition from military to civilian life. Learn more about transition assistance programs and resources.

Military and Family Support Centers may provide other programs such as the following:

Exceptional Family Member Program

Family Advocacy Program

New Parent Support Program

Federal Voting Assistance Program

Services may vary by location and installation. Use the Search tool to find contact information for your installation Military and Family Support Center. Just enter your installation name, Zip code or state.

Deployment/Individual Augmentee Support

Events sponsored by the Fleet and Family Support Center include:

One-on-one individual augmentee indoctrination appointments for sailors and their spouses are available with the independent deployment support specialist at FFSC. In the event that the sailor requests more extensive information, the support specialist can provide information for an intensive IA indoctrination. This five-day seminar concentrates on the readiness and preparedness of the sailor for an upcoming deployment to a forward-operating base and is designed to be a one-stop shop for medical, legal, personal support detachment and training topics.

Relocation Assistance

The FFSC Relocation Assistance Program offers the following but is not limited to:

Assistance with obtaining a sponsor at the new location

Information about spouse employment opportunities

Local area school and housing information

Referrals for stress management aimed at intervention and prevention of abuse

Shipment, receipt and storage of household goods (including motor vehicles and pets)

Settling-in services

Information about various base support agencies and local community information

Referral to the Housing Service Center which will assist with locating adequate, affordable temporary and permanent housing, both on or off base

A well-stocked Loan Locker is available to inbound and outbound sailors for immediate need items. The Loan Locker is located in the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Building. Items are loaned for 30 days at a time.

Transition Assistance

To further enhance career skills, we offer:

10 Steps to a Federal Job – Learn about the federal hiring process and how to take a systematic approach in applying for employment with the federal government.

Effective Resume Writing – Never leave home without a well-polished resume! Learn about the various formats and content of well-written resumes.

How to Work a Job Fair – Learn to navigate the job fair maze with our tips and techniques.

Job Fairs – Information on local job fairs located throughout the National Capital Region.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator/Strong Interest Inventory – Personal assessments geared to determine personality type and interests.

The Perfect Interview Techniques – You are in the door! How will you present yourself to a potential employer? Now is the time to learn how to make a good impression and land that dream job!

Personal Financial Management

The FFSC Personal Financial Management consultant provides financial counseling to service members and their families. Workshops provided include but are not limited to:

Banking and financial basics

Basic budgeting

Credit management

Savings and investing

Thrift Savings Plan overview

Car-buying strategies

Home-buying information

Consumer awareness

Identity theft prevention

Raising financially fit kids

Family Employment Assistance Program

Assistance is provided through the following:

10 Steps to a Federal Job – Learn about the federal hiring process and how to take a systematic approach to tackling the complicated web of employment with the federal government.

Effective Resume Writing – Never leave home without a well-polished resume! Learn about the various formats and content of well-written resumes.

How to Work a Job Fair – Learn to navigate the job fair maze with our tips and techniques.

Job Fairs – Information on local job fairs located throughout the National Capital Region.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator/Strong Interest Inventory – Personal assessments geared to determine personality type and interests.

The Perfect Interview Techniques – You are in the door! How will you present yourself to a potential employer? Now is the time to learn how to make a good impression and land that dream job!

Life Skills

The FFSC Education Services facilitator offers the following education and training programs:

Effective communication

Couples communication

Stress management

Anger management

Suicide awareness and prevention

Myers Briggs Type Indicator training

It is our mission to ensure that active-duty military members, their families and retirees have the knowledge and skills to foster good relationships, healthy families and strong marriages. All programs are offered at the FFSC as well as in the commands. Attendees of our programs are provided with packets of materials pertaining to specific life skills and walk away with multiple resources to further assist them.

Exceptional Family Member Program

The FFSC's role in the EFMP is to provide resource referral and advocacy information for EFMP families, to assist the military treatment facility EFMP coordinator with identification of and enrollment information for exceptional family members, to network with community agencies, to provide information on available educational services, military health care/TRICARE civilian providers and state and local community social services, and to provide information on available training and educational workshops. Naval Air Station Patuxent River has been designated a category 5 location.

Ombudsman

The FFSC Ombudsman Program supports the families and commands through dissemination of information and information and referral services. Ombudsmen are trained to take crisis calls and will provide warm hand offs to appropriate service providers when necessary. Ombudsmen attend regular monthly advanced training to include but no limited to: IA Awareness, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, Domestic Violence, Family Advocacy Program and Suicide Awareness. Command leadership and the Command Support Team are invited to attend. Command ombudsman attendance is mandatory, as this is where they will receive their ongoing training as required by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction guidelines, OPNAVIST 1750.1G CH-2. Ombudsman assembly meetings are held quarterly from 5:00-7:00 p.m. These meetings always include advanced training such as 

Volunteers

An efficient volunteer program helps to provide optimum service to the command. The volunteer program provides an opportunity for family members to gain valuable experience and to offer FFSC their valuable resources. The FFSC volunteer program mainly concentrates on in-house activities, which could benefit the services provided to the military community and is not to be confused with community service required by the courts. Community service is also a student requirement for graduation from public schools in Maryland. The FFSC staff identifies areas of operation that would benefit from volunteer help. Volunteers may be recruited, interviewed, selected and trained to work in such areas as reception, programs or special projects. The Family Employment Readiness Program manager acts as the volunteer coordinator. The FERP maintains written volunteer position descriptions and individual volunteer records. 

Family Counseling Services

The FFSC has licensed counselors available for individual, couple, group and family counseling. Counseling services at the FFSC are short-term, problem-focused and non-medical counseling. Counseling services are available to active-duty members and their families. Retirees and their family members are seen on a space-available basis.

Family Advocacy Program  

FAP is responsible for the prevention, identification and intervention of child and domestic abuse in military families, including intimate partners. Its primary goals are prevention, victim safety and support, rehabilitative intervention, offender accountability, and consistent, standardized response to incidents of domestic or child abuse within the Navy. FAP has a memorandum of understanding with local child protective services, the agency which provides the investigative function in allegations of child abuse. Prevention programs include life skills classes such as anger management and stress management. Another prevention program is the New Parent Support Program, offering in-home support services to new and expectant parents.

Domestic Abuse Victim Advocacy

The FFSC offers victim advocacy services, including but not limited to:

Restricted and unrestricted reporting options

Safety assessment/planning

Information to victims on available benefits and services

Referrals to military and civilian victim assistance services

Individual/group support programs.

The DAVA is available to assist and provide command briefs on their position, FAP issues and available resources.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program

The SAPR Program offers case management, prevention education, victim advocate services and training classes for victim advocates, command points of contact, command liaisons, data collection coordinators, command general military trainings and leadership briefs. 

The Sexual Assault Response Coordinator and the SAPR point of contact work to ensure command compliance with the SAPR policies on sexual assault. The SAPR program offers two reporting options for active-duty members: restricted reporting (confidential) and unrestricted reporting (where an investigation is launched). The restricted reporting option is only available to active-duty members; all other victims of sexual assaults will fall automatically under the unrestricted reporting option and an investigation will be launched.  

New Parent Support Program 

NPS is primarily designed as a home-visitation support program. It focuses as an early-intervention service to families providing education and support promoting healthy child development. Additionally, NPS is designed to specifically encourage and empower military families with skills to successfully meet the challenges of the military and parenthood. NAS Patuxent River's NPS is coordinated by a maternal-child specialist registered nurse, the New Parent Support Home Visitor. The NPSHV provides visitation services inclusive of in-home prenatal, newborn, baby and early childhood parenting instruction and support. In addition, the NPSHV provides hospital visitation and works along with neighboring military facilities, civilian hospitals and community resources offering maternal-child assistances. Some of the benefits of the NPS program include: improved preparations for parenthood through infant and young child parenting classes, in-home infant care instruction including breastfeeding, soothing a crying baby, infant massage and safe sleep practices. NPS also presents a parent and baby/toddler interactive play group that facilitates developmental play and supportive relations among families. NPSHV services are for all eligible military and their families who are prenatal or have babies or young children.

School Liaison Officers

One of the biggest challenges each family faces during the permanent change of station cycle is figuring out which schools are best for their children. The Navy now employs SLOs at each installation to aid families with their educational concerns. If you have a need for specific school information as it applies to your family, feel free to contact the NAS Patuxent River SLO at 301-995-4004 or 301-342-4911.

For access to an electronic copy of The Beacon, please access the MWR FFSC Patuxent River online.