Jen Ferrell and Kirstin Navaroli, co-founders of Wives of the Armed Forces (WAF), are building opportunities for Air Force significant others to navigate unique military challenges, such as mental health, isolation, and loss, with resources and community.
Jen Ferrell
Co-Founder, Wives of the Armed Forces
Kirstin Navaroli
Co-Founder, Wives of the Armed Forces
What gaps did you see in support for military families, and how is Wives of the Armed Forces helping strengthen connection and well-being for spouses?
The military spouse group of old is gone. The way people connect is so much broader now than just within their unit or rank, and at the end of the day, military spouses are just normal people who make a lot of personal sacrifices as they build a life and family with someone who works in a demanding, high-stakes profession. Wives of the Armed Forces is there to encourage Military Significant Others (MilSO) to continue pursuing meaningful connections that lead to a holistically more fulfilled life — despite many of the challenges they may face in the day-to-day.
What important issues affecting military spouses such as mental health, deployment stress, childcare, or employment do you feel still need more visibility and advocacy?
Can we select the “check all of the above option,” please?
Mental health can be rooted in all of these other issues, but we see a lot of mental health from the loneliness, isolation, and the loss of a self-purpose that MilSOs experience from the frequent Permanent Change of Station (PCS) of military life. This is an issue that we try to tackle and support head on by speaking to the MilSOs following us: as a person, aside from what their partner does for work. By getting down to who you are on your own, what do you value, what do you want your legacy to be … grounding questions that, no matter the life experience, you can find those truths to remain constant.
By encouraging our community to find their way to the best version of themselves, they open themselves up to making healthy connections that strengthen their mental health even more! All of that aids in the ever-important skill in military life — resiliency — which leads us to the issue of deployment or Temporary Duty (TDY) stress. Military spouses carry so much, and there are incredible organizations out there like PILLAR Deployment Retreat and In.Dependent that focus on supporting MilSO wellness, but these organizations need support to continue their efforts to better the quality of life for military families.
What kinds of partnerships or community support have the greatest impact on military spouses, and where do you see the most meaningful opportunities for collaboration?
While in-person events can often require mountains to move for MilSO to attend, in this post-COVID era, we are really seeing the impact on communities who are able to make those real life connections. The opportunities we see are in stripping back a lot of the programming and offering military spouses encouraging, down-to-earth opportunities to connect with one another. Once those bonds are formed, then resource sharing and utilization can come into play, but it’s the human-to-human connection that is the key.
Frequent moves can make it hard to build lasting friendships. How are you helping spouses stay connected, both locally and globally?
We love this question! This is where we have tried to harness the gift of living in the digital age and using these tools to better the lives of MilSOs! While we wholeheartedly believe in the power of in-person connection, we have built an online community of empowering and uplifting MilSOs. From that, we’ve seen connections being formed from like situations to someone inquiring about an upcoming PCS and meeting up in real life with the people who sent them information and encouragement!
Looking ahead, what is your vision for expanding support for military spouses, and what kinds of collaborations or investments would help advance that mission?
Circling back to the importance of blending what’s happening online with in-person connection, we are committed to our brand new WAF Chapters, where MilSO are able to come exactly as they are and connect with other MilSO with the same heart for connection. These chapters, first and foremost, will be an opportunity for us to honor the dignity of every MilSO through human-to-human support. They will also allow MilSOs the opportunity to connect and give back to the local community they’ve been planted in, because we recognize that stepping outside of our immediate issues with a heart for others is a quick way to get perspective.
Our chapters will also present an opportunity to further group share resources to help each member on their journey to evolve and become the best version of themselves (despite the chaos of military life). Having brand sponsorship and support behind these chapters — both locally and more globally — would finance opportunities for thoughtful events that would include pampering MilSOs all while empowering them with tools to not just survive MilSO life, but thrive in it!
