PCS Moves – Impact on Children and When to Seek Help

Household goods, SATO, orders, clearing base, and hurry up & wait—these are all things that we may be familiar with during PCS moves. These can represent some of the challenges encountered when progressing in the military while building a family. Service members may overlook the struggles that their kids face while moving around to support the needs of their career.

While parents are adjusting to new housing, new units, new experiences—their kids are experiencing the same. Children, especially young children, have less tools and life experiences to process their recent changes and understand what is going on. Adjusting to a new school, new home, climate, culture, community oftentimes more than once, can pose as a challenge for children. These challenges can be amplified when families PCS to a location where a military community is limited and children are not exposed to others with similar life experiences. Though by nature children tend to be adaptable and resilient; sometimes we may see new behaviors or behaviors that are out of the ordinary.

It is normal to have an array of varying responses when children anticipate and go through a PCS move. Some common responses include increased anxiety or worry, problems with sleep, appearing withdrawn, avoiding activities or things they used to enjoy, increased emotional outbursts/tantrums, sadness/tearfulness, and even increased externalizing behaviors/aggression. Every child is going to respond differently, and it is possible you are seeing a reaction different than what was just listed.

As a parent of a child anticipating a move/PCS, or if you are new to this community, know that help is available. At the Steven A Cohen Military Family Clinic at Centerstone there are different options to best suit your family’s needs. We are committed to serving the entire family unit. If you feel like you and your child may need support through this challenging time, we offer various interventions that can help with behavioral and emotional issues: Parent Child Interaction therapy (PCIT), Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH), Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT).  The treatment models cover a wide range of concerns and difficulties for children from birth to 17 years old.

Nicole Copple, LCSW is a Cohen Clinic team member specializing in child treatment, she provided her thoughts regarding when intervention is needed for your family or child, “It’s understandable to be skeptical about therapy. The good news is that in many situations parents are very involved in their child’s treatment. You will get to provide all background information, help set goals for treatment, have information about what therapy modalities will likely be best for your child, and provide and receive updates with the therapist at every session. As therapists, we want to know your thoughts on therapy and progress throughout treatment”.

What are the benefits of therapy for kids? Copple mentions that “We see many benefits from our evidence-based therapy modalities. Many of these modalities have been proven to increase positive parenting skills, improve children’s relationships with their caregiver(s), and help children cope with the changes they may be facing. We use measures and questionnaires throughout treatment to ensure we are making progress.”

Copple mentions her thoughts on therapy for children who anticipate a PCS move or have just moved into their new community, “Moving can be difficult for all members of a family, it’s normal for your child to be nervous or hesitant about a move and to even seem a little down or scared once the move occurs. If several weeks after the move your child still isn’t acting like themselves or their daily functioning is being negatively impacted by the move, please feel free to reach out for help.”

Please reach out to the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Centerstone for more information!