FOCUS gives family support to members who deploy Published May 17, 2011 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A new agency to serve military families dealing with deployment has relocated to Keesler from the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport. FOCUS -- Families OverComing Under Stress -- provides resiliency training to military families. FOCUS was developed at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior in collaboration with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and Children's Hospital Boston / Harvard Medical School. "This service is designed to help families address the stress related to deployment," said Ann Allen, a licensed clinical social worker who serves as the program's family resiliency trainer. "The program includes the entire family and is customized to suit its specific needs. A family can enter services at any place in the deployment or if they are gearing up for a deployment. "In FOCUS, families develop a shared understanding of how their deployment experience creates a unique story to enhance resiliency and prepare for this or the next deployment," Ms. Allen added. Monthly workshops are being offered and presentations can be made to groups on base. For more information, visit the FOCUS office, Room 108, Hewes Hall; call 822-5736; or log on www.focusproject.org.