Career Enhancement Training Study (USAF)

Wingman-Connect combines group and individual skill training. Group exercises build cohesion, belonging and shared purpose, and promote value of healthy unit, giving and receiving support. Individual skills promote the ability to thrive during transitions, manage stressors and meet career goals, and decrease barriers to utilizing organizational resources (family, health). The training has a total of 22 modules comprised of specific learning objectives and activities. Six months of text messages (1-2 per week) to reinforce and extend program concepts and skills.

Stress management training reviews the basics of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress-response system; common experiences of stress (physiological, cognitive, emotional); the impact of chronic stress on the brain and other domains of health; how exercise reduces harmful effects of stress; and relaxation techniques that have been shown to reduce stress and adverse effects of stress on health. Additional modules review the physiological stress response and effects of stress on health; introduces how cognition influences stress responses; common cognitive distortions/attributions are reviewed that affect stress including strategies to strengthen protective cognitive responses. Six months of text messages (1-2 per week) to reinforce and extend program concepts and skills.