Supporting Military Families and Teens with TRICARE

In this episode, Turning Winds founder John Baisden Jr. and Admissions Director Eric Loesch discuss the unique challenges faced by military families seeking mental health support for their teens. With deep respect and personal passion, John and Eric explore the impact of frequent relocations, deployment absences, and the complexities of TRICARE insurance. Eric walks listeners through the process of accessing treatment at Turning Winds with TRICARE, sharing insights on the streamlined steps he's crafted to make the journey easier for families in need. Whether you’re a military family navigating these challenges or a mental health professional wanting to understand the nuances, this conversation offers invaluable perspective on a critical support system for military families.

To learn more about Turning Winds, visit turningwinds.com or call 800-845-1380.

Transcript

 This is what it sounds like when you spent years helping military families get their teens the support they needed.  Eric has that process just dialed in and playing to you so good at what he does and walking his parents through that process. Welcome to the Turning Winds podcast. My name is Kevin Zundl. 

Turning Winds has a full continuum of care to help support teens. In those critical final childhood years, clinically and academically.  Today I sit down with Turning Winds, founder, John Baisden Jr and Junior and Admissions Director, Eric Loesch. John, what are sort of common threads that you see with military families and kiddos that are from those families? 

Yeah. So what, what we've seen is just a greater reporting of depression with these kids. When you have military families where a parent is displaced on a regular basis, deployed,  you know, serving our country and you have a parent that's absence that, that had, that takes a big toll on the mental health of some of these kids and these military families.

And so we see an increased level of depression, increased level of hopelessness. Another emotional problems, 40 percent  increase in reporting lower life satisfaction. And yeah, it takes a toll. It takes a toll on, on these, on these kids who, who are part of a military family. And so is there a tendency to feel isolated and not really connected because the bonds that they make may be going from place to place as they travel.

Got lost. Sure. Yeah. Sure. Just trying to find your connections and, you know, not having a stable community. Right. I mean, a lot of these military families are having to move around every one to two years. And so can you imagine what, what kind of toll that takes on a teenager having to make new friends and trying to create a new community and finding stability?

And knowing that, gosh, I'm only going to be here for another year. You know, I might not even finish the school year this year because my dad's being called out to such and such a region. Right. And we're going to have to now move to Virginia or North Carolina, wherever it may be. Right. Um, and so, yeah, that, that's a huge issue for the teens. 

What makes you sort of so passionate about working with these military families?  I love  our military families. And, and it's personal to me, right, because  my great, great, great, great grandfather fought in the civil war. He was, uh, a POW prisoner of war.  I've got many family members that are serving today in the Marines, the army. 

I've got friends that are, that have given, you know, that are veterans that have given their life and, uh, you know, to the cause of, you know, protecting this country, protecting the freedoms that we have. And so, you know, just, it means a tremendous.  And there's just, it means a lot to me that we're able to provide services to military families. 

I've got a lot of deep respect, loves, and just, just honor for those people that, um, put their life on the line, so to speak. And that's, that's just a tremendous sacrifice. And so for me, going through that journey in even.  Credentially with, with TRICARE, that was, that was a tremendous undertaking and not a lot of providers are able to get contracted with TRICARE. 

And so it's been a huge benefits. Um, gosh, I think we've worked with about 15 families in the last year and a half, two years,  which has just been just awesome. It's been awesome to be able to provide those services and make those connections with TRICARE families who need our services. And I can say that  definitively,  we just don't do enough for our military families. 

I feel like there's, there's a lot more support that can be provided to North to the families. And so I just feel so fortunate. We feel so fortunate to be able to, to be a provider and to have that focus and that concentration with military families and their kids and. And just to go through and walk through that experience with, with our military families, that's just been a, a tremendous blessing.

And so I just, I've got a lot of love, nothing but love for our military families and,  you know, the, the trauma that.  Parents are put through as, as they're serving our country and engaged in combat or just deployed and just away from their family for a period of nine months or a year,  I mean, that just, that takes a significant toll on, on just those parents.

Right. And, and that, that transcends throughout the family. And so,  you know, just to be able to provide services  again, it's just a tremendous blessing and it's an honor. And I just, I love that we're able to work with military families.  And as you're talking, I'm thinking about all the stressors that contribute to, you know, a diagnosis or behavior. 

And, but on the flip side of that, if you're constantly moving around, I know how hard it is to find treatment, period. Get a diagnosis period. You can easily wait six months or more  just to wait in line to get a diagnosis, uh, done. And so if you're in a, in a spot where you are constantly moving to find a psychiatrist by you or any kind of  outpatient treatment, um, by you  is inherently difficult.

And then that further causes  a decline there. And then, you know, I think what's, what's great about turning wins is that Is you have that investment into the treatment, into the child, and  I mean, that's, that's incredibly important.  It's incredibly important, and we have the reach from West Coast to East Coast, so we're able to work with Tricare East, Tricare West. 

Which is tremendous because a lot of our military families are on the East Coast, a lot of them are on the West Coast. And so to be able to, to, to have that reach to where we're able to really take care of a family who's located in, in Virginia. A family that's located, you know, North Carolina. A family that's located in Seattle, Washington or, or California, right? 

Um, we really, it just, it's a tremendous, uh,  you know, uh, just accomplishment to be able to be credentialed and contract both TRICARE East and TRICARE West and be able to serve families throughout the United States.  Eric, in, in speaking with,  uh, these military families on the podcast,  one of the, the things that I heard is the, the, the process is different.

So to, to your point, John,  there's so, it's very difficult to find a program period that accepts TRICARE, but. Absolutely. That point that you begin a process where it's a little bit different. It's not just submitting, here's my insurance number. The process is a little more complicated, but one of the things that was so nice to hear on the, on the podcast was. 

How helpful Eric was in helping them navigate that. And it made it much simpler and a whole lot less confusing. And so if you're a family, parents in crisis, I mean, what a blessing that is when you've already been frustrated trying to find a place, period. How can you speak to that, Eric?  Yeah, well, if you don't mind, I want to just kind of touch upon something John briefly mentioned first and then have to speak to that.

And just echoing what a privilege it is to work with our military families and servicemen and women. Both of you I think touched on something that's quite crucial in the discussions I have with our families and the challenges being in a military family for their, these kiddos, these youth,  but I think what's been important  So humbling for me is, is the humility that these parents themselves have often shown in,  in, in just opening up and admitting the challenges that they themselves have faced, um, because of their military service and then the impact that plays in their role as parents, right?

And so, you know, I'm a very new parent. I have, I have two very young children. I'm not a veteran and I struggle quite regularly with what do I do here? What do I do there? I think we all as parents face those challenges. But to, to speak to these military servicemen and women, these parents  Or, or serving both roles who can open up and acknowledge, you know, I've suffered some trauma and the impact that plays on my daily life and, and acknowledge that, Hey, sometimes maybe I'm not as good a parent I want to be today, or I wasn't as good a parent as I wanted to be today because of the challenges that I'm facing, or I'm in therapy and trying to get some help for myself and that's had an impact in my child's life.

I think it's very humbling that so many parents can, can admit that and take the action for their children. I think they should be acknowledged for that. So I just wanted to, to make note of that. And in terms of the challenges for these kiddos,  I don't want to speak on, on terribly awful circumstances, but you know, we have displacement and the challenges these kids face socially.

We've worked with, um, I can think of at least one and, uh, potentially two families that have, uh, where kiddos have lost a parent due to, excuse me, an accident that was service related, a very tragic accident. And so. There's that spectrum there where it can be, Hey, mom or dad is away for extended period of time and just how challenging that can be to mom or dad isn't here anymore, or I'm growing up in a single parent household now and the impact that can have.

And I don't, um, you know, I certainly can't relate to what that would, would be like. I could only imagine. So as far as the process, I appreciate what parents had shared on a previous podcast. I try to make it as simple as possible. When, when you really boil it down to,  to the simple kind of steps there, it's, it's there's basically two steps, right?

That are unique to TRICARE itself. Um, so pending, of course, a verification of benefits and, um, an approved application for turning wins, making sure that the child, um, family, son, daughter, loved one, uh, is medically and clinically appropriate. We're going to direct them to a TRICARE referral.  And then that would basically involve a referring provider form unique to either Tricare East or Tricare West, but very simply will direct family in that process that can be completed.

By a current mental health provider or a PCP, the additional piece that we're going to need is a TRICARE family application. And so that's completed by the family themselves, very short document, three, four pages, all the information they're going to have pretty accessible upstairs and in their mind, their  treatment history, things of that nature.

It's basically their ability to advocate for their child's need for a higher level of care for residential level of care. And then once we receive both those documents, we're going TRICARE on their behalf. Now there's some additional documentation that we complete and submit, uh, for them. And then typically within three to five business days, we're going to have a decision from TRICARE, uh, which we share with family and, and pending that decision being a positive outcome, which is quite regularly the case, uh, we're able to move forward with finalizing the mission generally within, within a week, sometimes as quick as three to five days. 

Eric has that process just dialed in and fine tuned and he is so good at what he does and walking these parents through that process of  pre intake to, to admit and um,  he's just so good at supporting his families. And so, yeah, it's just, it's a beautiful opportunity and bless him anytime we get the opportunity and chance to work with a military family. 

Thanks guys.  I want everyone to know that there are many other podcasts in our series that dive into important aspects of teen mental health. And if you are an alumni or an alumni family and would like to share your journey on this podcast, reach out to Enoch or Carl at enoch@turningwinds. com or car@ turningwinds.com. 

But if you are a military family or really any family and your teen might benefit from treatment, I highly recommend you reach out to Turning Winds.  The number is 800 845 1380 where you can explore the wealth of resources they have at turningwinds.com.