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OR JOBS
Mental Resilience Training
Cpl J Wason
The Army considers the wellbeing of its people to be a priority and has developed its own mental fitness and resilience programme called OPSMART – Optimising Performance Through Stress Management and Resilience Training. A key component of the OPSMART programme is Mental Resilience Training (MRT). This training enables our personnel to understand mental resilience and to learn how psychological theory and methods can enhance and sustain performance within training. My role as a JNCO in the MRT team is to deliver MRT training, in the form of unit briefs, to wherever our personnel are stationed all over the world.
So how did an RADC Practice Manager end up in this role? In summer 2019 a trawl came through from RHQ asking if anyone was interested in joining the OPSMART team. There wasn’t much information on the role, but it sounded exciting and had the added bonus of being based in Catterick, where my husband was due to be posted.
I applied not really thinking I would be accepted, but low and behold I got offered the job, unfortunately, the post was now going to be at Army HQ Andover. After long discussions with the hubby, I decided it
was too much of a good opportunity to turn down, so I accepted the job.
Arriving at Army HQ was frightening and completely out of my comfort zone, it was
a completely different environment to the Dental Centre. But the team were very welcoming and just as nervous as me. We did 4 weeks of in-depth training on the subject with the course team leaders and loaded onto a level 3 sports psychology course. I was also sent to Pirbright to complete my DTTT to enable me to teach in the units, so there was a fair bit of training to begin with. Once all training was completed, I was ready to get on the road! My first delivery ironically was to an infantry unit in Catterick, standing in front of these guys teaching was probably the most terrifying experience of my life.
As time has gone on my confidence in delivering has grown massively and I now find it enjoyable. The team travels all over delivering one day workshops, teaching 5 psychological skills to optimise a soldier’s performance. In Jan 2020, I delivered to troops in Estonia which was exciting and very cold! We also deliver a 4-day package to instructors in training establishments so they can then teach the skills to the new recruits coming through. This 4-day package includes two arduous battle PT sessions, which is often a shock to the instructors
and includes either the trainasium or high
ropes element to show how the skills work in real-life scenarios. During the COVID-19 pandemic we were unable to teach face to face, so we were delivering the training via ZOOM which was challenging, with dodgy internet connections and IT issues along the way, but we managed as best we could in the difficult times.
The job has been extremely rewarding and different from anything I’ve ever done before, travelling to all the different units, meeting new people every day, and hearing their stories and experiences has reminded me why I joined the Army in the first place, and it has given me much more confidence. I would highly recommend joining the team if you get the chance, I have loved every minute.
SO2 Projects and Dental Business Requirements, Army HQ
Maj C Harper
Initial clinical career
I spent seven years in British Forces Germany where I worked as a Dental Officer and Senior Dental Officer in Sennelager, Paderborn and Elmpt. I enjoyed the scope of dentistry available due to the variety of units and a mix of dependants. There were many opportunities to experience the full Military offer which included a healthy work/ life balance and the occasional Adventure Training and Individual Military Training exercise.
My C & S Journey so far
The Command and Staff Cadre is something I didn’t know much about until 2015 when
I began looking for further development opportunities within the Military and I considered C & S. The series of articles
in this journal and discussions at the last CDO(A) conference are making information
on this opportunity more accessible for all. I attended ICSC(L) for 8 months in
2016/17. The opportunity to undertake full-time post-graduate education was an extremely rewarding experience and is something that is covered in more detail within this journal. I will reiterate that the course is a fantastic experience and provides a set of skills that are developed further in subsequent staff roles for maximum effect.
My Initial Grade 2 (IG2) assignment was within the Army Health pillar of the Director Personnel Directorate, Army Headquarters, as the SO2 Projects and Dental Business Requirements, previously the SO1 Oral Health post. This assignment gave me a broad experience in several different areas during my two and a half years in Andover.
The role involves being the Dental Subject Matter Expert within the HQ, representing the
single service dental requirements and views. This also reaches into DPHC(D) and how we interact together as organisations. There is
a huge opportunity to have an influence on the various tasks which occur, in particular within deployable dentistry, an area which is becoming increasingly exciting. One of the dental successes was the release of the new Portable Dental Unit and subsequently the progress made on dental capability within the Fd Army, something I have been able to take forward in my current assignment.
The assignment also requires other
roles to be covered due to gaps or a
short term greater need. This requires a delicate balance of priorities and timing, however, provides a broader opportunity
for experience and development. I spent
8 months as the Executive Officer to the Senior Health Advisor (Army) which involved maintaining the day to day routine of the
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