Review: Courage After Fire for Parents of Service Members: Strategies for Coping When Your Son or Daughter Returns from Deployment


Courage After Fire for Parents of Service Members: Strategies for Coping When Your Son or Daughter Returns from Deployment
Courage After Fire for Parents of Service Members: Strategies for Coping When Your Son or Daughter Returns from Deployment by Keith Armstrong

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I received this book through the GoodReads First Reads program.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I have worked as a mental health professional in a VA in the past, and I hope to work in one again in the future. This book covers a lot of the struggles that a returning service member experiences and ways that a parent can help. I thought it was great that the authors include some stock sentences that parents can say to their children when they are struggling with coming up with the words themselves. There are also some great tools that the parents can use with their children (e.g., thought record and sleep hygiene recommendations). Another great thing about this book is that when research is discussed in the book, there is a citation on the page and the reference in the back of the book. I have read so many books that refer to research but never cite anything. If you feel the research is dubious in this book, you can look it up! For the researchers I recognized, however, the research was spot on. Finally, the real treasure in this book is all the resources that are listed in the back of the book. The military and other groups have tons of resources for veterans and service members, but sometimes it is hard to figure out where to go. This book gives you a fantastic starting off point.

My one critique of the book is that there is not a bigger push to seek professional mental health help for both the service member or the parent. I say this, because lots of the techniques described in the book (e.g., thought records) can be done alone, but this can be challenging. I would recommend doing many of these exercises with a professional. In other words, if you are a parent or service member and you feel that the tools in this book are helping but you are still struggling, please seek a professional for help.



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