MCRD Parris Island Marine Corps Family Team Building

Eligibility and Getting Started

1. Identify Individual Needs: Determine what specific support or resources you or your family require. MCFTB program offers a variety of workshops, classes, and resources tailored to different needs, including deployment support, spouse education and career assistance, relationship-enhancement, and more.
   
   MCFTB professionals can help you identify your specific needs.
    
2. Connect with MCFTB: Reach out to MCFTB professionals either in person or by phone. They can provide guidance on available programs, workshops, and resources that best suit your needs.
    
3. Attend Workshops and Classes: Participate in MCFTB workshops, classes, and events relevant to your situation. These could include pre-deployment briefs, relationship-enhancement classes, pre-marital and marital workshops, relocation assistance workshops, family readiness seminars, financial planning classes, and more.
    
4. Connect with Other Families: Take advantage of opportunities to connect with other Marine Corps families through MCFTB-sponsored events, support groups, and social media platforms. Building connections with other families can provide valuable support and camaraderie.

Unit, Personal and Family Readiness Program (UPFRP)

LifeSkills Training

Workshops are comprehensive collection of personal and professional skill-building classes, promoting successful outcomes in various life challenges.
 

• Four Lenses
  This interactive workshop focuses on four temperament styles that greatly influence one’s life. Participants gain a greater understanding of these preference’s, starting with oneself and leading to how others are influenced by their personality type. Four Lenses will definitely lead to more positive interactions with others by understanding their strengths, needs, values and joys. Learn strategies for building relationships. Learn how to communicate more effectively and approach conflict more productively based on the preferences of others. Classes can be customized for individuals, couples, children and small unit leadership.
   
• Five Love Languages
  This workshop is based on the #1 New York Times bestseller written by Dr. Gary Chapman’s: The Five Love Languages. What if you could say or do just the right thing guaranteed to make that special someone feel loved? The secret is learning the right love language! Millions of couples have learned the simple way to express their feelings and bring joy back into marriage. Individuals and couples are encouraged to attend.
   
• Real Relationships
  This workshop helps to identify the hallmarks of meaningful relationships and how to build skills to make them stronger.
   
• Say What? 
  This workshop is design to teach valuable communication strategies to help individuals communicate more effectively fostering healthier relationships. You’ll learn how to identify communication barriers, and how to genuinely listen towards the goal of understanding. Every aspect of one’s life is improved when one learns how to communicate well, especially during deployments, separation, and military lifestyle transitions.
   
• Basic Anger Management
  Although disagreements and anger are a normal part of life, violent expressions of feelings detract from personal and professional relationships and can negatively affect the efficient functioning and morale of Marine Corps units, individuals, families, and communities. This workshop is a basic overview of anger management. It provides education on the dynamics of anger and offers a variety of acceptable coping strategies to handle angry feelings and behaviors.
   
• Basic Stress Management
  Learn what stress is and how to manage it by changing your response to it. Learn to apply helpful techniques to ease the weight of stress within your life. Learn how to apply a problem solving method to take action in high-stress situations. Identify at least two personal symptoms of stress. Identify at least two personal strategies for managing stress. Name at least two resources that can help Marine families address stress. Develop and Individual Action Plan for managing stress.
   
• Living My Best Life: Bridging the Generation Gap
  Bridging the Generation Gap shows participants the unique characteristics of the many generations that exist today providing a foundation to enable improved communication across generations through increased knowledge of generational characteristics, influences, and priorities. Bridging the Generation Gap helps individuals improve their relationships on a professional and personal level by showing why generations may respond to each other in different ways.
   
• Living My Best Life: Attitudes & Actions
  This course is designed to encourage military members and their families to maintain a positive focus and be engaged in their homes, at work, and in their communities. Attitudes and Actions stresses self-advocacy, power of choice, resiliency, and encourages participants to think differently about the impact they have on any situation in a fun and interactive atmosphere.
   
• Ready, Set, Prepare
  This workshop contains information regarding actions that service members and families should take to be informed and prepared in the event of natural and man-made hazards. This workshop is designed for families to prepare themselves for all types of emergencies, to increase their personal sense of security and peace of mind.
   
• Prevention & Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP)
  PREP 8.0 is designed to help couples achieve their relationship goals. The curriculum builds on the existing strengths of the couple by teaching critical life and relationship skills that deepens friendship, increases intimacy creating a more stable and thriving relationship.

Not all workshops are available at all locations.

Please contact your MCFTB office for workshop schedule and availability.

Readiness and Deployment Support

The Readiness & Deployment Support workshops are designed to equip Service Members and their families with essential life skills necessary to effectively overcome the anticipated and often un-foreseen challenges that suddenly arise during deployments.

• Pre-Deployment Brief for Marines & Families
  This brief is held per unit request 30 to 45 days prior to a service members deployment. For Individual Augments (IA) or short notice deployments, please call MCFTB for a personalized appointment.
   
• Family Care Plan
  Learn who needs a family care plan, what should be included in an effective family care plan and how to construct one.
   
• Mid-Deployment Success
  This workshop is designed to promote deployment success for the spouse or significant other at home and includes suggestions for fun things to do, goal setting, and resources. The workshop is an excellent opportunity to assess progress thus far, get new ideas for continued success, and network with other Marine Corps spouses and significant others.
   
• Mid-Deployment Kids
  This workshop is designed to promote deployment success for kids, including reactions to deployment, ways parents can help their kids feel connected to the deployed parent, and resources to help you and your child thrive during a deployment.
   
• Return and Reunion for Parents & Extended Families
  Spouses and significant others of returning Marines are eager to discuss homecoming anticipation, expectations, and concerns. This workshop touches on those topics, possible return dates, and information from the DRC. Ideas for communication and what plans to make before the Marine returns are discussed. This is a brief that is required to be provided to remain-behind family members and is part of the required Pre-Deployment Agreement form.
   
• Return and Reunion for Parents & Kids
  Held in conjunction with Return and Reunion Workshops for spouses, MCFTB work with children ages 5 and up to help them prepare for their service member’s homecoming in a fun and interactive setting.
   
• Reintegration Success
  This educational workshop provides a forum for couples to assess their recent deployment experience, address the effect of reintegration on a relationship, and assess the level of relationship satisfaction. Couples are provided communication tools and resources daily to strengthen their relationship.

Not all workshops are available at all locations.

Contact your MCFTB office for schedule and availability.

Lifestyle Insights, Networking, Knowledge, and Skills (L.I.N.K.S.)

The L.I.N.K.S. curriculum is designed to provide service members and their families an understanding of the benefits, resources, and services available to them.

Curriculum Includes:

• Our Corps, Our Culture
• Events & Etiquette
• Navigating Resources
• Pay & Entitlements
• Deployments
• Safe and Sound All Around
• The Place You Will Go
• Building Your Network
• Investing in Your Community
• Kids Readiness
• Mentor Training

Contact your MCFTB office for more information about the L.I.N.K.S. workshops.

Volunteering

MCFTB provides opportunities for training and volunteerism with L.I.N.K.S. In addition, MCFTB provides training for UPFRP volunteer positions to include Family Readiness Command Team Advisor (FRCTA) or Family Readiness Assistant (FRA). 

• Host/Greet at Sessions
• Food Angel – Help to Feed our Participants.
• Administrative Support
• Present L.I.N.K.S. Session Topics
• Information Booth Support
• Event Support

To explore Family Readiness Volunteer opportunities, contact your unit's DRC/URC.