Photos by Marny Malin-Chaplain (Maj.) Saul Cardona baptizes Catherine Anne Slemister at Sunday’s Catholic Mass at Fort Belvoir Chapel.

The Fort Belvoir Chaplain Family Life Ministry and Training Center is in a nondescript building set back from the road that is hardly noticeable to those passing by. Yet, more than 300 Soldiers, family members, retirees and DoD civilians from all over the Military District of Washington consider it vital each month to resolving a variety of concerns in each of their lives.

Those issues may range from marital problems and family dynamics to loss and grief to post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Returning from a tour of duty, transitioning out of the Army, the stress of work, and living and driving in this region can all cause areas of contention at home. The 100 percent confidential, no-cost counselors provide the professional tools for each individual, couple and family to approach, control and overcome obstacles in their lives.

Chaplain (Maj.) Saul Cardona is director of the center he staffs with fellow chaplains, professional counselors and counseling students from Virginia Tech, Loyola and Howard universities. They also work in collaboration with DeWitt Health Care Network. While the chaplains are based in pastoral care, they do not impose religious beliefs on clients. It is simply yet another tool some individuals may choose to use in dealing with problems.

“If you silently carry around problems from relationships, those transfer into the other aspects of your life, including the workplace and can cause difficulty on the job,” Cardona said. “By seeking help and addressing them, you can work through them and unburden yourself.”

In addition to relationships, the center treats cases of PTSD that can arise from trauma. “Soldiers are trained to fight and kill and they hate every second of it. Yet, they do it to defend our freedoms. No one likes being put in that position,” Cardona said.

“The war may place it in the news more, but it has always and will continue to exist after the war is over,” he said.

“You don’t have to be a Soldier to suffer from PTSD,” Cardona said. “Anyone who has experienced a traumatic event can experience it, firefighters, police, medical providers, assault victims. Certain factors may also figure into it - heat, lack of sleep, medical conditions.”

The counselors use healthy approaches and proven behavioral theories to make the necessary changes and progress with the issues, much of them involving communication. “We are here to help even if problems don’t have a solution,” Cardona said. He said in those cases, staff members at the center can offer compassion, listening and companionship.
Recently the center obtained an Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing machine that uses eye movement to access memories of emotional trauma and reprocess the way clients think and feel about the event.

Along with the reprocessing machine, the center recently obtained new lighting, carpeting and furniture to create a more welcoming atmosphere. New computers, a monitor and video cameras to use with feedback for clients, were acquired with $50,000 in funding from Clark Pinnacle, chaplain tithes and command installation management funds.
More than 77 percent of those using the services at the center are active-duty. Seventy-five percent are Army, and 55 percent of those are women. “The number of people who
seek us out continues to rise as life’s problems accumulate, and they seek help,” Cardona said. “We are on the front lines of helping families exist.”