By Dr. Kendra Lowe, MSC, Ed.S., Ed.D., NCSP, LSSP
You can purchase this book officially HERE!
“One hundred twenty-three. In seconds it’s really not that much. In days deployed, it bears a little more weight. In lives, that number just became more significant. On September 26, 2019 the Department of Defense released, for the first time ever, the number of military spouse suicides. In 2017, that number was 123. Each number represents one of our own. A military spouse who couldn’t find a way out. A life gone too soon. It’s very hard to talk about. However, we must talk about it because one of those spouses could have been the energetic friend you met for morning walks with your children strapped into your jogging strollers. It could have been the new spouse you met at a Friday squadron social who told you they were struggling to find a job in the area. It could have been the seasoned military spouse you have always looked up to that “has it all together.” Could it even have been you?” Dr. Kendra Lowe, Wake Up, Kick Ass, Repeat.
This is a must-have book for military spouses, their family members, and helping professionals working with military families as well as anyone seeking to find a way to help themselves to better social and emotional health. The practical principals of rational behavioral therapy will prepare you to work through stressful situations while maintaining better emotional control. Dr. Kendra also includes thoughtful questions and exercises that any individual or group can put to immediate use.
We cannot accept another year with the loss of 123 military spouses. Pick up this resource now, start this eight week study individually or with a group of peers, and help yourself to better social and emotional health.
Personal Testimonies
Wake Up, Kick Ass, Repeat
“I think that we, as military spouses, are unaware that we often operate at an elevated level of stress. A fact we sometimes forget. I sometimes visualize stress in my own life like I am spinning plates; I can keep them going until you add another plate and then it all falls apart. Military spouses operate at that level much of the time.” —Beth Autrey, Air Force Spouse
“I don’t think we know what we are capable of until we are pushed a little out of our comfort zone. But when it’s too much, we need to give ourselves the grace and seek help in whatever form that needs to be.” —Diane Teschner, Air Force Spouse
“While a person cannot change the events or the tragedies, they can choose the way forward…to thrive versus survive by looking for what opportunities, meaning, or change the event and loss has brought. It is in that choice that a person becomes a better person than the person before.”—Linda Ambard, Gold Star Spouse
