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One evening not long ago, as USS Nimitz (CVN 68) steamed across waters off the coast of San Diego, had someone stumbled into one particular compartment within the bowels of the aircraft carrier, they would have encountered something quite strange.
Weary from work, some of the Sailors had gathered around, sitting on chairs arranged in a circle. Once there, they simply began to breathe. They breathed in, and they breathed out…breathed in, and breathed out…
Soon, they found themselves in a remote patch of peaceful nature -- an alien sight among the metal, steam, and cacophony of industrial noise aboard the ship. Then, a voice began to speak from within the serene fields surrounding them. “Look at the ground, look at the sky, and see where they meet.”
The soothing sound paved a pleasant path for them to follow, along a trail and through a gate. Until finally, they reached a garden.
“Look around and notice what is in your garden,” the words guided in a calming cadence. “See all the colors and objects that are in this place. Notice how beautiful they are.”
And so, the Sailors aboard the traveling metal island they called home strolled along, each within their private garden, a personal place full of their favorite things.
Birds of all colors and kinds flew across the sky in one of the gardens. Flowers, as far as the eyes could see, bloomed everywhere in another. Some of the gardens were kissed by the warmth of a brilliant sun. Others were a silver blanket of heavy snow.
They took some more deep breaths, and walked along a few more steps, as seconds went on for what felt like hours – all in the span of mere minutes.
Visualization and guided meditation are just two of the activities Sailors can participate in at the Resiliency Oasis, part of the Nimitz Tough program aboard Nimitz.
Nimitz Tough teaches skills and provides resources to increase Sailors' resiliency in the face of the difficulties and stressors of everyday life aboard the ship.
"The Nimitz is its own being and comes with its own daily stressors, its unique challenges and situations," said Religious Program Specialist 2nd Class Kristen Herrera, founding member of Nimitz Tough. "So Nimitz Tough is a ‘by the Sailor, for the Sailor' program where we tailor these tools that everyone uses – psychologists use them, the deployed resiliency counselors (DRCs) use them – towards the Nimitz Sailor."
Although Nimitz relies on a group of professional caregivers aboard the ship – collectively referred to as the wellness team, and including members such as the DRC, the psychologist, and the chaplains – taking care of around 5,000 Sailors often proves easier said than done.
"It's impossible," said Herrera. "As great and wonderful as they are in providing mental health care for Sailors, they can't reach out to everyone. There's a lot of people that just need a little bit of help. They just need a few resources here and there, a few different tools to regulate their stress. They don't necessarily need to go to a mental health professional."
That’s where Nimitz Tough comes in. Sailors get the independence to take control of their mental health by learning skills and accessing tools they can use on their own. It also helps free up the critical mental health services aboard the ship, so that those who do need it, are able to more readily access it.
The origin of Nimitz Tough goes back to 2019, around the time Herrera first reported aboard the ship. Herrera and a group of other Sailors aboard Nimitz attended Caregiver Operational Stress Control training.
"It's a Navy class where they take HMs (Hospital Corpsman), they take doctors, they take deployed resiliency counselors -- anyone who's considered a caregiver for Sailors," said Herrera. "And they teach us how to take care of ourselves, because it is an emotionally grueling job."
"So we're going through this class where they're teaching us all these great tools like breathing and maintaining our stress levels…self-care was a big topic," said Herrera. “And we thought, 'Well, this shouldn't just be given to caregivers; this should be given to everyone. Every Sailor on the Nimitz can benefit from this.'"
The team asked if they could take what they learned and make their own program specifically designed for Nimitz Sailors. Their first meeting brought in approximately 15 people, and what started as a project of compassion and service from a small team of enthusiastic caregivers became what is now known as Nimitz Tough.
Since the program's foundation, the Nimitz Tough team has not only been able to teach stress management and resilience skills to Sailors, but they have also recruited more instructors and developed an instructor training program.
“Our instructor training for Nimitz Tough is completely unrestricted by rank,” said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Vanessa Davenport, a Nimitz Tough instructor and coordinator. “Officer or enlisted, it makes no difference. Come one, come all!”
Sailors who take the instructor course not only learn the skills to help others, but also themselves.
“You cannot continuously give without first taking care of yourself,” said Electronics Technician 3rd Class Anthony Montesano, another Nimitz Tough instructor. “It could lead to possible burnout.”
Nimitz Tough offers workshops for all Sailors on topics such as stress management, developing good habits, and many more.
Sailors can attend open, discussion-based forums and share their unique perspectives in a safe, relaxed environment. Here they can learn from each other about ways to manage stress and develop skills they can apply in everyday life to work through challenges and become more resilient.
"It's different every time," said Herrera, while describing the Resiliency Oasis, one of the more distinctive events Nimitz Tough offers. "It's a unique environment that we reserve for an hour to create a safe and relaxing space for someone to destress that they're not going to find anywhere else on the ship."
The Resiliency Oasis allows Sailors to decompress after a long day of work through activities like coloring, socializing with others in the group, participating in guided group discussions on different topics, or practicing acceptance.
They can also partake in visualization, meditation, and breathing exercises while learning how to apply useful stress management concepts and relaxing in a peaceful setting, even within the skin of a warship.
"Some people are going to focus on coloring, some people are going to focus on the meditation, some people might fall asleep," said Herrera. "That's perfectly fine. Because all we're doing is providing that safe place for them to give themselves the permission to decompress.”
The variety of events and activities Nimitz Tough offers continues to develop and expand as more instructors join the team and the number of attendants grows.
The goal is to reach as many Sailors as possible, and keep providing the help they may need, said Herrera. The program has already expanded outside Nimitz. Two other carriers have adopted the program, and Nimitz’s previous executive officer took it to his next platform.
Although future iterations of Nimitz Tough may not share the same name at other commands, the team looks forward to seeing the program be adapted and tailored to other Sailors and their unique challenges across the fleet. According to Herrera, Nimitz Tough has proven that it is a necessity for Sailors to take care of each other wherever they are.
It is said that tough times never last, but tough people do, and after the few minutes spent in the garden by the Sailors who attended the Resiliency Oasis, they began to walk back through the gate, along the trail, and back to the seats arranged in a circle in the middle of the ship's compartment where the visualization exercise started.
This time, however, hopefully feeling revitalized and with renewed resilience, they continued their critical work aboard the oldest commissioned aircraft carrier serving our nation today.
| Date Taken: | 05.29.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2022 23:01 |
| Story ID: | 436087 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tough Times Never Last; Nimitz Tough Sailors Do, by PO1 Eduardo T Otero, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
