Military families are used to starting over.
New duty stations mean new schools, new providers, new communities, and new routines.
Those transitions can interrupt behavioral health care at the moment kids need it most.
More than a decade ago, Jennifer Crockett, PhD, director of the behavioral health program for military families, and her colleagues at Kennedy Krieger Institute recognized this challenge among military-connected families seeking care.
Since 2011, Kennedy Krieger has gradually redesigned its behavioral health services for military families. Families get transferred, deployments happen, and life circumstances change. Care must adapt with them.
What began as a small program serving families near Fort Meade, Maryland, has grown into a model that combines three essential components to help military-connected children maintain access to behavioral health support through life transitions.
1. Understand the family before prescribing the solution.
The program started with a simple observation: Military-connected children arriving at Kennedy Krieger were receiving specialized care, but providers did not always understand the military culture and the unique factors shaping their lives.
Crockett’s husband served for more than two decades in the U.S. Army, so she understands military life.
“A military child is a child,” Crockett said. “They’re going to have all the things that other children have. But we know military kids experience stressors that aren’t common for others, and the cumulative effect has an impact on them.”
Military families often face additional stressors such as deployments, frequent moves, changes in schools and social networks, and disruptions to caregiver employment.
Those pressures do not affect every family the same way. One lesson Crockett’s team learned early was assumptions can get in the way of effective care.
“Every family is different, and their needs evolve based on where they are in their military journey,” she said. “I’ve learned to not be prescriptive about what I think their needs are at this point in their lives.”
Over 1.6 million children in the U.S. have at least one parent serving in the military. For these kids, being able to see a psychologist who is knowledgeable about military life is crucial.
Today, military-informed care is a core part of the behavioral health program. Postdoctoral fellows work with their supervisors to receive training on military culture and military-specific support systems.
Fellows also participate in a monthly training series, hearing from experts, including members of the military, on military life and how it affects families.
2. Build care that can move with the child.
One of the program’s most significant shifts came in 2015 when Kennedy Krieger expanded telehealth services for military families, years before virtual care became common during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move addressed what happens when a relocation order arrives, and a trusted clinician is now hundreds or thousands of miles behind.
Telehealth has allowed care relationships to continue through a transition while they establish services in a new community. Depending on licensure and reimbursement rules, clinicians may be able to follow families across state lines instead of ending care abruptly when it is time to move.
“Some families’ first thought is that they’ve been able to get great care and now the relationship with our providers has to end,” Crockett said. “We get to say ‘maybe it doesn’t’.”
Telehealth also helps address barriers unique to military-connected families.
Crockett said virtual visits provide greater privacy for families seeking behavioral health services, particularly as stigma around mental health care remains a concern in some military communities.
“There’s still a stigma around getting care within the military and the notion of being able to soldier on and not needing help,” she said. “Telehealth provides access to care in the privacy of their home.”
Virtual care also allows clinicians to observe children in an environment where behavioral issues often occur.
“I can actually see directly in somebody’s home, which is where the problems are happening,” Crockett said.
The services are particularly valuable for families stationed in rural locations or regions with limited behavioral health resources.
Emily Arneson, assistant vice president of government relations and a military spouse, said access challenges can influence major family decisions.
“If the needs of the family aren’t met, then you’re having inner turmoil with the family, which then leads to decisions about what you need to do to fix that,” Arneson said. “There’s a whole domino effect when somebody doesn’t have access to the resources they need and deserve to have.”
3. Surround the family with a connected system.
Kennedy Krieger’s program leaders emphasized no single hospital can meet every need military families face.
“There are amazing military and veteran service organizations that provide services,” Crockett said. “Find out who your village is that’s going to help provide care because it’s not going to be just you.”
The team works closely with the Exceptional Family Member Program, Blue Star Families, and the Army Community Service, Fleet and Family Support Program[LC1] to connect families with resources beyond the hospital’s walls.
Collaboration extends internally as well. Providers across Kennedy Krieger’s specialty clinics can consult with the military behavioral health team when caring for these kids.
The hospital also participates in the Military Child and Family Collaboratory, a partnership among pediatric organizations working to improve care for military-connected youth and families.
Serving those who serve
The goal of Kennedy Krieger’s military program was to redesign care around the realities military families face.
That meant training clinicians to understand military culture, using telehealth to maintain connections, and building partnerships to extend care beyond the hospital.
Together, families don’t have to navigate the health care system on their own.
When military orders happen, families will still face new routines and new communities.
But they won’t have to start their child’s behavioral health care from scratch.
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