Mental health issues and a staggering suicide rate has plagued the military for many years.
Sean’s Room is a unique initiative started in 2023 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to combat these issues. It is based on a mental health facility in Dover, Delaware, called Sean’s House, which was founded by a father whose son died by suicide in 2019.
Sean’s Room just celebrated its first anniversary. It is a comfortable and unpretentious space where anyone from any of the military service branches at the Joint Base — including its civilian employees — can go to talk, to unwind or to ask for help.
At this point, so many people have come to the facility that six other Air Force bases are now adopting their own models of Sean’s Room.
Sean’s Room offers peer-to-peer counseling. All the peer counselors are volunteers — in fact, some of them originally came to Sean’s Room to ask for help with their own issues.
The peer counselors at Sean’s Room are trained by professional and certified trainers.
One of the first professionals to volunteer her time was Donna Sand, a mental health advocate and licensed trainer who works for Dillon Marcus, a Cherry Hill-based management consulting firm that offers programs to help executives and employees reach their full potential.
Sand had never had any exposure to the military before volunteering at Sean’s Room. As a result, she has a unique perspective on the mental health issues in the military and the promise of Sean’s room.
Military Matters: Having not had experience with the military before Sean’s Room, what is your impression of military people?
Donna Sand: How lovely these people are to work with. You think of military people as being closed off. They are anything but; they are the most beautiful human beings. Everyone I have come in contact with has been great.
MM: What is the difference you find in dealing with military personnel compared with business executives?
DS: I work with a lot of businesses and, at the typical corporation, everyone is closed off and does not want to show weakness. They do not want you to see them sweat. The military people I have met are more open and receptive and truly appreciate the help. I have talked with people who discuss their problems openly, and that is a level of bravery not many people have. It is done with such a level of class.
MM: What has most impressed you about the people you work with at Sean’s Room?
DS: I should say first that I do not work with the people who come to Sean’s Room for help. I work with the volunteer peer counselors. I am amazed at how welcoming they are and the level of respect with which they treat each other. I work with the peer counselors to familiarize them with the ‘Spot-It’ method and work with them on an intro technique for Spot-It and then teach them the method and, subsequently, we can then go deeper.
MM: What is the Spot-It method?
DS: Spot-It is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is a gold-standard approach for managing anxiety and stress. It is a four-step process, which reduces the symptoms of stress and anxiety by helping people become more objective and self-reflective when dealing with stressful situations. This mindset shift helps people manage feelings of anger, fear and panic more effectively.
We train the leaders in Sean’s Room to become certified Spot-It coaches so they can then train others and bring this valuable tool back to their respective units. It has been wonderful to witness how enthusiastically Sean’s Room has adopted the method and the training.
MM: What are the most prevalent problems the counselors deal with at Sean’s Room?
DS: It is distressing to see how many people come into the military because they have no other option. Many had no family life or a very tough family life. Many come to the military to escape something. Remember, these are kids — 20 or 21 years old. Many are away from home for the first time. It is a tough situation for them — especially around holidays.
MM: What specific issues come up in the discussions?
DS: The counselors deal with people who have many different issues that can lead to mental health problems. It can be something as routine as getting to the base on time. It can be the challenge of working on the base all day in your military persona, then going home at the end of the day and transforming into a spouse. Another is dealing with higher-ups and supervisors and the conflicts that can arise from that. And those transitioning from military to civilian life can find it very stressful.
MM: Sean’s Room is now using therapy dogs?
DS: There is just something about dogs — they just make everyone feel lighter. The dogs are cute and loving, and they can get you out of your head for a while.
MM: You recently visited Sean’s House in Delaware, the model for Sean’s Room. What did you learn there?
DS: I like their program very much. If you go there, and, say, for instance, you are a college athlete, you don’t talk about sports. Whoever you are, when you come to Sean’s House, you get to just be a human being.
MM: How are the volunteer counselors holding up?
DS: The counselors use the Spot-It Program for themselves and with each other. It is a good way to alleviate stress and anxiety. The volunteer counselors who come to Sean’s Room are here usually for 30 days, during which they learn very valuable training and gain important experience in addressing mental health issues, which they can then bring back to their units.
MM: Why do you think Sean’s Room has been the success it has?
DS: There are many organizations and groups that do excellent work to help those with mental health issues but, in many cases, people have to make appointments and have to wait. Time passes. Sean’s Room is a tool that can help now. Sean’s Room is about what we can do in the moment.
MM: Now that Sean’s Room has reached its one-year anniversary, where does it go from here?
DS: I would like to see Sean’s Room evolve to where it can host special events or fun events — like a trivia night or a comedy night. It would be great, because people would come to Sean’s Room without a mental health reason to be there and it would demonstrate great community support.
