Military Family Life Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre

In this April edition of our Military Family Life podcast - in honour of the Month of the Military Child - we are focusing on Military children.
 Kayla Lamrock has experience as a military child, a military spouse and working at an MFRC with children and youth.
In this episode Kayla talks about her experiences of deployments and postings from the perspective of a military family member.  She also talks about what it is like to support a loved one with an operational stress injury, and the work she does now to support youth navigating the challenges of military family life.
 Finally, Kayla gives advice to parents on how they can support their children through challenges.
Trigger warning:  In this conversation we touch on topics such as PTSI and suicidal thoughts.  Please listen with care.
About our guest:
Born to an Infantry soldier, the military lifestyle was all Kayla knew. At thirteen, Kayla recalls what it was like to move away from Petawawa, her military community, and into a small town where being from a military family was much different from the experiences of her peers. 
Now, with a diploma in Early Childhood Education and a degree in Family Studies & Sociology, Kayla advocates for and provides support for military youth navigating the unique challenges of this lifestyle. 
Most recently, Kayla has been on the advisory board for the development and implementation of Mind Kit, a website for youth and a Suicide Prevention & Intervention Guide for military families.
 Learn more about Mindkit a space for youth to explore the topic of mental health. It was created by the Atlas Institute with young Family members of Canadian Veterans living with a posttraumatic stress injury (PTSI). https://mindkit.ca
 

In this month's episode we are speaking with Lt(N) Wendy Duguid, a Regular Force Military Chaplain.

Wendy has been serving at Garrison Petawawa since 2019.   She was previously the Chaplain for the medical units, and is currently supporting the Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) and 2 Signal Squadron.

In this conversation we chat with Wendy about:
the day-to-day life of a Military Chaplain and the supports they provide;what it was like to join the Reg Force as a second career;the importance of self-care; andhow families can be more resilient in challenging times.
Contact us:
We would love to hear from you.  If you are a Military Family Member that wants to share your experiences and lessons learned, email us at Podcast.Feedback@PetawawaMFRC.com 

This month we are talking with three former MFRC Executive Directors who have  recently retired from their positions in Goose Bay, Greenwood and Shilo.

Our co-host Claudia Beswick also added some insight, as she too recently left her position as the ED in Petawawa to take on a different role supporting military families.

With all of this experience and collective knowledge, we talk about:
how life has changed for Military families over the last twenty yearstheir proudest moments at their MFRCswhy families being posted to Shilo Goose Bay, Greenwood and Petawawa should be excited about life in their new communities; andadvice for leaders taking on new roles
About our Guests:
Joan Harvey worked at the Goose Bay Military Family Resource Centre for 25 years, 12 of those as Executive Director. Prior to Goose Bay Joan lived in Petawawa for 5 years with her husband who was a military medic. In 1997 they were posted back home to Goose Bay and when her husband was medically released they made it their permanent home. During her 30 year career of working within the Military Community Joan has the pleasure and honour of meeting many people and providing services and programs in an ever changing environment and working with an awesome team. Along with her husband’s military career Joan also spend 23 years as a part time reservist working the Royal Canadian Army Cadets as a CIC (Cadet Instructor Cadre) officer. 
Marg Reid is proud military spouse whose husband served for 38 years. Her son is a currently serving CAF Member on his 2nd overseas deployment. Marg started with the Greenwood MFRC in March 1995 as our social worker, and moved to other positions including the coordinator of Deployment Services.  Marg becoming ED IN 2008 and retired in November 2023.
Willemien VanLankvelt was born in the Netherlands and moved to Canada 43 years ago. She spent her entire career working in the non-profit sector - 17 of those years in Shilo at the MFRC. She retired in October 2023.  She has 3 children and 5 grandkids. 
Trigger Warning
Today’s conversation we talk about the Afghanistan years and some incidents involving suicide, death and injury in the Military community.  We know these topics can be difficult for some of our listeners- so please take care.

This month we are talking two members of the Canadian Military Wives Choir in Petawawa.  They tell us about how the choir helped them to connect with new friends in the community, their best memories performing with the choir, and their advice for people who are thinking about joining their local choir.


About our guests:
Melissa Perry-Biezing has been a military spouse for 18 years. Originally from Newfoundland, Melissa moved to Ontario as a child.  She moved to Montreal, Quebec once she finished Nursing school, where she met my husband. Melissa has been a Registered Nurse for almost 20 years, having worked in many areas of nursing mostly in Ontario and Quebec. She is currently working as a Primary Care Nurse at the base clinic in Petawawa. She has two boys, 6.5 and 14 years, and is part of a busy hockey family.  
Kimberly Glandon was born in Northwestern Ontario and moved to Ottawa in 2004.  She met her husband in 2006 and they moved to Petawawa the following year.  Since 2007 she has been part of the military lifestyle; and is now navigating life after the army. Kim started with the choir in 2015 and has been a member ever since.


Do you want to learn more about the Canadian Military Wives Choir – or find a choir near you?  Visit their website at:
https://www.canadianmilitarywiveschoirs.com
Here is a link to the Together We Are Stronger video from April 2021 that we talked about in the episode: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianMilitaryWivesChoirs/videos/170616251598128

Contact us:
We would love to hear from you.  If you are a Military Family Member that wants to share your experiences and lessons learned, email us at Podcast.Feedback@PetawawaMFRC.com 

Our Guest this Month
Ainsley Christensen is the curator at the Garrison Petawawa Military Museum and has worked at the museum in some capacity or another for the last 20 years. Ainsley was born in Manitoba -moved to Petawawa in 1995 and haw been here ever since  -  minus a few years to attend post-secondary school in Kingston, ON). 
Ainsley is a military spouse with three very active children ages 12, 10 and 9. As a result she I spends most of her time outside of work driving to activities and watching do all the things they love to do (hockey, volleyball, horseback riding, soccer to name a few!). 
In this conversation, my cohost Claudia Beswick and I, talk to Ainsley about 
·      her work at the Garrison Petawawa Military Museum and some of the exhibits they have honoring Canada’s Military, those who served and the family members left behind
·      the loss of her brother Sean Greenfield who was killed while serving in Afghanistan; 
·      what we as a military community can remember those who have been lost; and 
·      ways we can support their loved ones

 Trigger warning:  In this month's episode we discuss topics such as death and grief

Find out more about the HOPE program
https://cfmws.ca/support-services/families/bereavement-grief/hope-program
 
Visit the PMFRC YouTube channel to see our behind-the-scenes tour of the Garrison Petawawa Military Museum and some of the artifacts we talked about in this episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIdo_Ha-58Y&list=PLiBkqTv0VrYbrEgX2PlSAhGUe_wXnz4QF&index=1&t=72shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwUlDvpAU2Q&list=PLiBkqTv0VrYbrEgX2PlSAhGUe_wXnz4QF&index=3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5XjbSiUV4A&list=PLiBkqTv0VrYbrEgX2PlSAhGUe_wXnz4QF&index=5
Here is the link to the Library and Archives Canada webpage where you can find information about military service records and how to access them
https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/military-heritage/Pages/military-heritage.aspx

About our guest:

Andrea Nauta is a military spouse - her wonderful husband Dustin has been serving in the military since 2007. They have two beautiful girls who are 11 and 9. 
Andrea and her family have moved back and forth between Comox and Petawawa, and they are currently happily settled in Comox where Andrea works as a support worker at a local school.
 Andrea is an accomplished baker.  She started baking when she was 8 with simple cake box mixes and making cupcakes for her family.  Her passion grew year by year – and she dedicated herself to learning more  through books, YouTube, and cooking shows.  
Eventually her love of – and talent for – baking brought her to season 3 of the Great Canadian Baking show
Toady Baking is something Andrea does to relax. She has scaled back on large cake and macaron orders and now bakes for fun. 
If you want to see some of Andrea’s fabulous baking creations – including a photo of the fabulous mermaid tail that Andrea made for her Great Canadian Baking show audition - you can follow her on Instagram at @nautabakes

Contact us:
We would love to hear from you.  If you are a Military Family Member that wants to share your experiences and lessons learned, email us at Podcast.Feedback@PetawawaMFRC.com