Deployment Support and Resources in Gagetown

One-on-one meetings to help prepare for separation and reunion. These appointments are tailored to your family’s needs and cover a variety of topics covering areas like the emotional cycle of deployment, preparing, establishing a support network etc.. Case-planning, in this way, can help alleviate some feelings of anxiety/stress and provides an additional connection in your support network. 

The intention of this guidebook is two-fold: to provide structure in preparing your life for a work-related absence AND to support you in finding ways to help address situations, feelings and changes that cannot be prepared for. We encourage you to use this resource as the name suggests, a guide to help you prepare for a separation (not the rule).
Use what will be helpful to you and your situation and move past content that is not relevant.

How to use this guidebook:

1. Prep: Checklists, indexes, trackers, and personal information sheets. The intent of these documents is to help you prepare by having relevant information accessible for yourself/your family.
2. Strengthen: Activities, educational information, personal experiences and resources dedicated to help prepare you and your family’s mindset and mitigate anxieties for those situations that can’t be prepared for.  

This resource is the result of an MFS project to provide national templates of deployment support services for MFRCs. As such, the content represented here is adapted from resources provided by Esquimalt MFRC, Halifax MFRC, Petawawa MFRC, Shilo MFRC and SISIP. The New Brunswick MFRC is currently working on blending those resources and adding additional supports specific to our New Brunswick members and families.

Operation Overseas Ollie is the newest (and softest!) way our NBMFRC team is serving our deployed families. This project was born from a desire to find a way to help the youngest members of deployed families to navigate the challenges of being apart from their parent for an extended amount of time.

Our sweet little Ollie teddy bears, who wear a yellow ribbon around their neck to symbolize support for serving members, include a recordable device.  Deploying parents who will be away from home for two months or more, can reach out and request Ollie bears for their children between the ages of 4 and 12.  

The New Brunswick MFRC was fortunate to receive external donations and funding, so we are proud to provide these bears at no cost to our military families. When members receive their bears, they will also have instructions about how they can record a 20 second message for their child.  Ollie becomes a special gift they can share with children before their time away from home begins.  

We hope this project helps members who must be away from home and gives them a tool to help soothe the sting of time apart from their loved one. Whenever their child needs a cuddle or a hug, or to hear a message of love and support, we hope that Ollie will be a great comfort and will remind them how loved they are.

We have different workbooks to help children of various ages to work through feelings and experiences that can accompany a deployment of a loved one. These are a free resource offered through the NBMFRC.
Some of these workbooks also come with a parent guide to help explain how to work through the activities with your children and how they can effectively support your child.  One workbook, in particular, mirrors the emotional cycle of deployment and helps children to navigate through them.

We offer free monthly deployment childcare in our designated centre one Saturday a month from 10 a.m.- 3p.m. Registration is required in advance. 

We offer Casual Childcare Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.  for 4$/hour for active member families and $6/hour for veteran families. Registration is encouraged a week in advance by calling 506-422-4405.

Emergency Family Care Assistance is available for those sudden and unexpected times when your Family Care Plan falls through.  This is particularly important to take note of for instances where your family is in a solo-parenting situation.  Please call 506-471-1265.

The Youth Centre offers opportunities for children 9 and up to connect with other kids, play video or board games, take part in activities or watch movies. The Youth Centre is open from 2:30 - 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.  Call 506-422-3352 for more information. 

We have a team of Family Support Counsellors, who provide counselling services and mental health support and referrals.
Our team can also counsel youth.
Outside of these professional services, we also regularly provide referrals to the Family Information Line and CHIMO Helpline for support 24/7.  There is a wait-list for this service, so if you are interested, please reach out! 

A bilingual emailed newsletter which includes upcoming relevant event the MFRC, new deployment programming and fun/educational resources. If you are interested in being included in the mailing list please email nbmfrc.ml@gmail.com.

The NBMFRC hosts events and activities specifically for families experiencing a deployment, as well as those for the entire community.
Care package baskets for spouses living through deployments or living IR, family events like sleigh rides and BBQs, pre-deployment briefings etc., are some of the programming specifically offered for deployed and IR families.
Many of our programs include participants in similar circumstances and with similar emotions to those you may be experiencing. We know that coming together and supporting each other helps to ensure that no one ever feels alone.  
If you are interested in an event, or have an idea for one, please reach out to the Military Lifestyle Coordinator at nbmfrc.ml@gmail.com.

This area is ever-growing. We will be rolling out more virtual educational content as well.
One program we offer regularly is a 6-week program called MindMasters 2 designed to build resilience and emotional coping skills in children. This can be a great addition to a child’s emotional toolkit when dealing with a deployment. Please follow our Facebook page New Brunwick MFRC CRFM Nouveau Brunswick for more information about when this program will be offered.

As an extra effort to provide connection for families living through a work-related separation, the NBMFRC also offers a service that provides monthly phone check-ins while your family member is away.
If you would like to receive this check-in, a volunteer, or the Military Lifestyle Coordinator will connect with you to see how you are doing, answer any questions you might have or help to connect you with services and support, as required.  
Many families find this to be a valuable support.
Contact the Military Lifestyle Coordinator at nbmfrc.ml@gmail.com to be included on the list.