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Several staff members of the new Community Counseling and Wellness Center at The Basic School pose in the lobby of the Community Counseling suite, one of four counseling suites that now occupy the second floor of Cox Hall. From left are community counselor Odis McKinzie, substance abuse counselor Thomas Brown (in back), victim advocate Chip Toney, New Parent Support Program home visitor Trish Burkes, Behavioral Health Program Director Laurie Wilson, Community Counseling clinical supervisor Stacie Gravlee, Family Advocacy Program counselor Jessica Crone and FAP prevention specialist Rebecca Childress. All but Childress and Wilson have offices in the new center.

Photo by Mike DiCicco

Counseling ‘surge’ brings Community Counseling and Wellness center to TBS

2 Jan 2014 | Mike DiCicco Marine Corps Base Quantico

Some time ago, The Basic School requested that a counselor be placed at Camp Barrett on the west side of Marine Corps Base Quantico.

However, amid a Corpswide “surge” in counseling services, what TBS got was an entire Community Counseling and Wellness Center, which now occupies almost the whole second floor of Cox Hall. The new center, which held its first open house Dec. 9, includes a suite of community counseling offices, a suite of offices for the Consolidated Substance Abuse Counseling Center, another suite of Family Advocacy Program offices and a combined suite for Victim Advocacy, the New Parent Support Program, military family life counselors and Families Overcoming Under Stress. The new Victims Legal Counsel office is also collocated with the center.

“We went from having nothing out here on the west side to now having everything out here,” said Laurie Wilson, director of Behavioral Health Programs.

The new center opened Oct. 1, but Wilson said officials wanted to finish beautifying the space before holding the official grand opening. A staff of 11 has moved into the space, and one more family advocacy counselor position is yet to be filled.

Wilson said she hopes the center will be a model for the integration of behavioral health services, with multiple counseling services in one place.

“It makes it much more efficient for that warm handoff,” said Stacie Gravlee, clinical supervisor at the center, noting that she can offer stress counseling to a Marine and then take him to meet the New Parent Support counselor, for example.

Gravlee was a clinician with the Family Advocacy Program until she took the helm of the new center in June. The rest of the staff wasn’t brought onboard until September.

Community counseling is a new component of Marine Corps behavioral health services being rolled out across the Corps, and two community counselors are now in Little Hall, with two more in the new center at TBS.

Until now, the only general counseling available has been with the Family Advocacy Program, but FAP has to give priority to clients referred after a domestic violence or child abuse incident, Wilson said. “Out of all their cases, maybe less than 5 percent were general counseling because they just didn’t have time.”

With Marines returning from combat, she said, the Corps made a decision to expand counseling services to accommodate a growing demand. Wilson said stress is a major issue for service members, whether combat-related or not, and family issues are common subjects of counseling, with Marines separated from their families for long periods and sometimes returning with issues they didn’t have when they left. Marrying young or creating “blended families,” with children from previous marriages, are also common sources of family stress, she said.

In addition to eight new positions in Behavioral Health Programs, the number of military family life counselors at Quantico was increased from two to eight.

Wilson said the expansion of behavioral health services gives the base more capacity to handle its own counseling caseload. While services are available in town, she said civilian counselors don’t always understand the Marine Corps culture and the support structures available to military families. “We think having services here on base readily available, we can not only meet their counseling needs, but also meet their cultural needs,” she said.

Gravlee said the new Community Counseling and Wellness Center is already gaining popularity. “Our turnover as far as clients dropping out of care is very small,” she said, adding that commands have referred a number of Marines for counseling. “So far, everybody’s been pretty open, at least from what we’re hearing.”

“We already have Marines that come over and just sit for a few minutes to unwind and relax,” Wilson said, noting that this demonstrates a decreased stigma around counseling.

The new Community Counseling and Wellness Center at TBS is open to all service members, retirees and their family members, Wilson said. “You do not have to be with TBS to come here, just a current ID holder.”

For more information about the Community Counseling and Wellness Center or to make an appointment, call 703-432-6442.

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com


Marine Corps Base Quantico