About R2MR For Families
The R2MR for Family Life website is designed to bring the Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) program to the entire Defence Team and their families. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes that resilient individuals and families are essential for its overall health and well-being, as well as operational readiness and success.
We invite all members of the Defence Team to explore this website. Whether you are in uniform, a family member or a civilian member of the Defence Team, you will find information, learning videos, testimonials, interactive activities, and e-learning sessions on topics of interest and relevance to you. Do not forget to check out our Resources section where you can find a comprehensive list of programs, services and external website links to meet your personal and family’s needs.
Military Family Life
Families are a major source of support and strength and integral to the Defence Team’s success. However, families also face many challenges and unique circumstances, such as relocations, frequent separations, deployments, high operational tempo, and stress associated with high-risk occupations. Family members have used words like ever-changing, sense of belonging, sacrifice, stressful, and rewarding to describe the military lifestyle. Explore some of the rewards and challenges of this lifestyle, hear from other Defence family members, and learn strategies and tips to help manage the demands of military family life.
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Understanding Stress
We all experience stress, and we all need to manage our stress to maintain our health and to optimize our responses to challenges that we encounter. Understanding what stress is, as well as recognizing its sources in our lives and our typical reactions to it, can help us begin to manage it better. This section will allow you to learn more about stress, and will provide you with some tools and strategies to enhance your ability to cope with daily demands.
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Self-Care
Self-care refers to the intentional activities and practices that you engage in to reduce stress and nurture your mental and physical health. Self-care is essential to maintaining our health and well-being, and includes rest, relaxation, and recovery. Research has also linked self-care to long-term resilience.
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Individual Resilience
The Canadian Armed Forces defines resilience as the ability to recover quickly, resist and even thrive in the face of stress and adversity. Individual resilience can be developed and enhanced throughout our lives. Check out the Big Four (Deep Breathing, Visualization, Self-Talk, Goal Setting) + skills to learn how you can make these strategies an essential part of your personal resilience toolbox.
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
- Mindfulness
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Family Resilience
Family resilience is not just about how each individual family member responds to stressful situations, but rather how the entire family is able to endure, recover and ultimately grow from adversity together. Families can build and develop their resilience, too. Interested in strengthening your family’s resilience? Learn more in this section.
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Mental Health & Well-being
Our mental health is fundamentally important for our overall health and well-being. Just as we monitor our physical health for signs of injury or illness, it is equally important to keep an eye on our mental health. At times our mental health may change as we face various life challenges. In this section, you will learn how to keep an eye on your mental health and the mental health of your loved ones. You will also have an opportunity to explore tools to support your mental health.
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Resources
Find out more about the excellent DND/CAF mental health resources available to you. Whether you or a loved one needs help right away, or if you’re planning ahead, this is where you will learn more about all of the DND/CAF resources available to you, how they work, and how you can make the most of them.
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