944th FW FAP Manager Hits the Ground Running

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Louis Vega Jr.
  • 944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, ARIZ. --  Until recently, a Reserve focused family advocacy program was not offered to the Air Force Reserve Command members. This is no longer the case for the 944th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base.

Ms. Jessica Paul, 944th FW family advocacy outreach manager, was hired in July to initiate the program which supports Airmen and their families by providing a variety of prevention/outreach programs and community resources designed to promote healthy and happy military families. The focus of the family advocacy program is to build resilient, healthy military families, and communities by emphasizing and teaching the skills needed to resolve family challenges and manage stressors both in their personal and professional lives.

"Although I do not have any prior military experience, I have a big heart for those who serve in the military and I am honored to support them and their families," said Paul.
Paul hit the ground running by reaching out to her active duty counter parts not only to learn about what programs and resources are available to our reservists, but also to find opportunities for the 56th and 944th to collaborate and support each other.

"We discussed services, documentation, referrals, outreach, maltreatment versus prevention, and an array of requirements and standards used by the AF FAP," said James Yang-Hellewell, 56th Fighter Wing family advocacy outreach manager.

"My hope for our collaboration is that we see ourselves as a larger, unified community of Airmen. I make no distinction in service. I hope that we can share resources, classes, and personnel," continued Yang-Hellewell.

In October Paul, in collaboration with Yang-Hellewell, arranged a lunch time class on how to build and foster healthy relationships at the 944th family readiness classroom.
"We were very pleased with how the class went and with how many people came. This was the first time we offered this type of class, so I was hoping for five or six people to attend and we actually had 12 people join us including two from the 56th FW," said Paul.

The FAP plans on providing educational classes during upcoming UTA weekends covering topics like how to manage financial stress, learning tools for managing stress, and how to be resilient in the face of adversity.

"My goal is to continue to raise awareness about the family advocacy program by building relationships and meeting with our Airmen to learn about how best I can support them and their families," said Paul.

If you have suggestions or topics that might be helpful to our Airmen and their families contact Jessica Paul at 623-856-2289 or visit the SharePoint site: https://afrc.eim.us.af.mil/sites/10th_AF/944FW/SitePages/Home.aspx.