Supporting Children and Adolescents with Deployed Caregivers: A Structured Group Approach for School Counselors

Children and adolescents of deployed soldiers require preventive and sometimes remedial service from school counselors, because deployment taxes coping skills and exacerbates normal developmental challenges. This article reviews the cultural and developmental context for children with deployed caregivers and outlines a ten session, hybrid psychoeducational-counseling group designed to increase student knowledge (e.g., emotional cycles of deployment), build student competencies (e.g., coping skills, mastery of developmental tasks), and promote a safe environment to express emotions with connected peers.