Behavioral Health Support for Defense and Space Professionals

Arguably some of the most important work KBR does today supports the physical and mental well-being of defense and space professionals. In this episode, Dr. Holly Robles, senior program manager in Behavioral Health with KBR’s Science and Space business unit, discusses some of KBR’s work in health and human performance, the risk factors associated with various behavioral health issues, and the biggest challenges in the field.

CONTENT WARNING: This content could be triggering for some listeners. It discusses mental health, suicide and suicidal ideation.

Transcript

IN ORBIT: A KBR PODCAST

Season 4, Episode 2

Behavioral Health Support for Defense and Space Professionals

INTRODUCTION

John Arnold

Hello, I'm John and this is In Orbit.

Welcome to the podcast, everyone. Wherever in the world you are, whether you're a regular orbiter or listening for the first time, we're glad you're with us and staying in our orbit.

Before we get started, please be aware that the following content could be triggering for some listeners. We'll be discussing mental health, suicide, and suicidal ideation in this episode. If you or someone you know are currently in distress and need support, please dial 988 in the United States. That's the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. For those outside the U.S., there's a list of international resources available at save.org. And KBR employees can find additional resources through the employee support program 24/7.

We talk a lot on the podcast about the latest innovations in science, technology and engineering, and how KBR is using those solutions to address some of the great challenges of our time. What you might not know is that some of the most fascinating work that KBR does, and some would argue the most important, is for people and supporting their physical and mental well-being, particularly professionals in defense and space who work in some of the most demanding and harsh environments imaginable.

With me today to talk about some of the work KBR does in health and human performance is Dr. Holly Robles. Holly is senior program manager in Behavioral Health and she works with KBR Science and Space business unit, which is part of KBR Government Solutions United States. Welcome to the podcast, Holly.

Dr. Holly Robles

Thanks, John.

John Arnold

Well, we are super glad that you're with us today to talk about one of the more interesting things that I think that KBR does and that is working with people. So you had a very varied career from the public sector to academia to the US military. So I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling us a little about your journey and how you became interested in psychology and behavioral health.

Holly Robles

I would love to. I was one of those kids in the sixth grade that had been watching Sigmund Freud and was already fascinated by behavior and dreams and knew from a very young age that I wanted to go down this lane and be able to help people and understand people. And it wasn't until I turned 15 and had my own mental health crisis, feeling suicidal as adolescents oftentimes do, where I went and sought out a counselor. And after one session I walked out and said, "Wow, I want to do that. I want to be that person that's there for people that are really struggling, especially during those darkest times of their lives." And they launched that career path for me. And in 1992 actually started doing therapy with people all the way up to the director of crisis services for a large regional organization.

And about nine years later then realized that I wanted to have the opportunity to work with kids and teenagers and families. So changed a little bit of path going into the school system for about 10 years, finishing that doctoral degree and another master's degree and getting the opportunity to go into academia and private practice. And in 2009, decided I needed to raise my right hand for the United States Marine Corps and got the joy of serving our nation three years in the Marine Corps and three years in the Navy working as a provider there until 2015, coming back to Texas from my deployments overseas and working again in private practice and with industry and with schools until 2019 and '20. Then starting with KBR and the wonderful position that I enjoy now as a senior program manager in behavioral health, and I love what I get to do every day.

John Arnold

That's a truly inspiring story. First, as I so often get to say on the podcast, thank you for your service. We appreciate it immensely. And number two, thank you for sharing so candidly about your personal experience.

Holly Robles

Sure. I think a big part of understanding the reasons that we provide the services that we provide and being able to provide the absolute best quality services is being able to be empathetic and understand exactly what others are going through. So we always have to know our why. Why do we do this? Why do we keep coming to work every day knowing that this is such a challenging field? And my why is that I know that we're helping one person at a time.

John Arnold

That's wonderful. Well, again, thank you. For people who might not know that there are finer differences between the two, would you explain please, what we mean when we refer to behavioral health versus strictly mental health?

Holly Robles

Absolutely. We used to call it “mental health” all the time. And mental health encompasses what's going on in between your ears: how you're adjusting to things, how you're coping with the daily stressors of life, doing well or maybe not doing so well. Whereas behavioral health is really a more umbrella encompassing-type term, including things like alcohol use and maybe our acting-out behavior or our turning-in behavior. So it's a more broad term that encompasses all of those things and not just our mental health.

John Arnold

It's super helpful to know those differences. So behavioral health and mental well-being in general, at least in the developing world, they've become very prevalent topics online and in the news, and I think especially following the pandemic, that's true. And though sometimes it feels like collectively we might be making progress around destigmatizing mental and behavioral health issues or that there are more resources available. I know KBR has done a tremendous job in providing resources to help employees be more proactive about their mental health and fitness, but it seems like there's still … we're just bombarded with bad news, specifically with teenagers and social media use. It seems like there's just so much spiraling around us. So sticking specifically with behavioral health, what are the major issues currently that are out there.

Holly Robles

John, I think probably the biggest issues now are that there's just not enough providers to be able to address this tremendous need that we're seeing on a daily basis. There may be a wait to see a behavioral health care provider and the behavioral health care providers that are in the local community may not be specifically trained to the issues that you may need. I love it that now we are branching out and doing lots of telehealth options and there is a movement of being able to transport counseling licenses from state to state and a counseling compact act.

So I'm really excited about that. So now we can provide those services telehealth-wise to many, many states. If you're licensed in one and essentially you're licensed in about 21 or so. So I'm really excited about that. The other thing I think that we've seen coming out of this pandemic is a significant spike in anxiety. We see more worry and anxiety and fretting and loneliness. We have a lot more people working from home and concern about not being able to relate to others and not having that community connectedness and support that we need to help support us during those times whenever we're at our darkest.

John Arnold

Absolutely. I know that for myself, working from home, I've always considered myself to be a people person, as sort of an extroverted introvert. But I love being around people but notice that especially after the pandemic, coming out of that, it was difficult to relate to people as freely or as openly as I felt like I was used to doing before that. So that's a very interesting point you bring up. And then also an eye-opening point about just there not being enough providers. That seems to be an epidemic of its own.

Holly Robles

It is. And basically what you described, John, in terms of coming back from COVID and working from home, is exactly what most Americans experienced: not understanding anymore and feeling comfortable with relating to others, wanting to go back into your own shell and having concerns around just that day-to-day problem solving, communication, peer relations, and then having to drive in and go to work every day.

John Arnold

So KBR has a long history of supporting the U.S. Department of Defense in numerous ways. Supporting health and human performance has been a big part of that. What are some of the behavioral health issues unique to people who work in or have experienced extreme conditions such as military personnel or veterans?

Holly Robles

I think one of the things that everyone believes comes to mind is that there is a greater risk of having post-traumatic stress disorder and then also the concern for suicidal ideation among military service members and then also veterans. We do see the rates of death by suicide and veterans and the active-duty population, as well as reservists and guardsmen, and even family members of those to be significantly higher than that of the general population of civilians. So we are going to see more post-traumatic stress disorder, obviously due to war-type things that are seen, but also to many other type stressors. Even things like military-related sexual traumas that might have occurred or difficulties in being able to adjust. Anytime we go through a transition in life, that's hard for anybody. And when you think about a military service member and their families, as well as veterans — think about all the transitions that they've had to go through, not only every three years, but at the time of their transition into ending their active service.

So now they're moving to a new community. They are having to rethink what their identity is as a person, as a worker, as someone that they believe themselves to be self-sufficient, losing their entire support system and coming out of the military system, because the Department of Defense does a great job in supporting our service members. And yet coming out of the military and going into veteran status, those first two years really are when our veterans are most at risk. So we want to really be able to provide lots of wraparound services for not only those active duty service members but especially the veterans. And we're less likely to see those, mainly because we don't have veterans that are on installations anymore. They're all spread out across our nation.

John Arnold

So let's talk a little bit about the risk factors for suicidal ideation. How can we — how should we provide support for someone having a crisis or maybe how do we provide that support at KBR?

Holly Robles

So I love the way you asked that question, and that's that there are risk factors. We know that there are risk factors. When we're lonely, when we don't feel connected to people, if we've had some sort of involvement in the criminal justice system or if we have chronic pain, or if we feel like something's been ripped away from us, especially relationship and we don't have that community connectedness, financial problems — those are all really significant risk factors.

And the more of those we have, obviously the more concerns that someone would have that they may be at risk of suicide. But there's also some imminent kind of warning signs that some people may start talking about, and that is vague statements that they wished that they were not around, or they wished that they didn't have to deal with pain or struggle anymore. And some of the best ways that we can provide support to people that are struggling, even the person next to you, or even your family member, is to listen and listen wholeheartedly, putting our cell phones down and squaring up or our eye to eye and needing and really actually listening without talking, without trying to give solutions.

So much of what we do as behavioral health care providers at KBR is to provide support, and that is unbiased and objective and supportive in all ways whenever someone is dealing with the deepest and darkest emotions and moments of their lives. So we provide some fabulous behavioral health care all around this nation, and others, as a matter of fact, in our Preservation of the Force and Family initiative, providing behavioral health care staff as well as nutrition staff and athletic staff and trainers and coaches and cognitive coaches, always seeking to do our best for our community of special operators.

John Arnold

Well, thanks for sharing that information. Also, thank you for the, I think, valuable advice for anyone listening about just how to be an empathetic listener. I hope that people listening at home are able to take something constructive from this.

Holly Robles

Thanks, John. Sometimes whenever we have teenagers at home or a spouse at home, we forget those good skills, and we're very sweet to our pets, but not necessarily to the people around us. Right?

John Arnold

Right.

Holly Robles

And so listening carefully and recognizing that the people that live with us are the people that love us the most, and yet whenever we are really feeling down or depressed or discouraged, we can be really irritable and honestly mean to the people that may love us the most. So whenever we do have those people that are really irritable, sometimes that can be a red flag as well, that they really are in crisis and it's just safer to be irritable than it is to be depressed.

John Arnold

What are some of the other innovative approaches that KBR has implemented around behavioral health?

Holly Robles

Some of the other things that we know that we can provide, and we have been providing services in, and that's in cognitive coaching. And that is helping someone live their best life and be the most effective every single day that they can. And wouldn't it be great if we all had a coach that we could turn to to help us maximize brain health, maximize our performance, our physical performance, our cognitive performance, and then our interactions if we're having any issues related to relationships? Because we all know that things are going well until things aren't going well. And then when things start to decline in relationships that it has an impact on us so much so that it can affect our jobs and it can affect everything we do. Definitely our moods. So that is a part of what we also do and that's provide family support and peer education.

John Arnold

It's just extraordinary. Well, I have a sort of tough question, I imagine. If you, Dr. Robles had unlimited funds and resources to address the United States’ behavioral health challenges, what would you do? How would you prioritize?

Holly Robles

So I think our number one need is having enough people to help. We need lifesavers, we need lifeguards, we need gatekeepers. So I would devote energy and attention to standing up behavioral health care training programs, training therapists and clinicians and psychologists, and making sure those that are aging out are there to provide those key instructional services and mentoring services for new individuals coming out of out of college. For those that are considering careers, I would market the importance of what we do every day and what a difference we get to make in the lives of so many.

The other thing that I would do is I would stand up urgent care centers anywhere where people can walk in and have access to care. If you have a problem and you need to see someone, sometimes it's six weeks, sometimes two months, but it's rarely the same day or rarely within a few days. And so making sure we've got enough behavioral health care providers in a place to go see them.

John Arnold

Right.

Holly Robles

I'm really glad that there is an opportunity to be able to have mental health care under most insurances, but unfortunately people may not know how to access that or otherwise feeling like they don't know where to go or they're not comfortable asking for help and seeking help. So de-stigmatizing that help seeking behavior by doing lots and lots of community involvement and community collaborations with literally every part of our society until we get to every single person and that there are zero suicides.

John Arnold

Well, if I had the money, I'd give it to you. That’s for certain.

Holly Robles

Thanks.

John Arnold

And just on a personal note, my youngest sister is right now finishing up … well, she's about to start her internship for her final year of her master's degree in psychology. She wants to be a clinical therapist, so I'll have to let her know that there's a call for people out there, that she's needed.

Holly Robles

Absolutely. And please pat her on the back for me and let her know. Then please give her my contact information.

John Arnold

Absolutely.

Holly Robles

Because sometimes starting out people may be scared and not know what they're going into. And after 31 years, into my 32nd year of doing this, I can tell you I love it every single day. It never gets old.

John Arnold

Well, I might just take you up on that. I'm sure she would love to talk to a professional of your caliber and one that's done as much as you have. Well, before I go, I just have a couple more questions for you. First, how can people listening learn more about the work you're doing or reach out for support?

Holly Robles

Thank you. “How can you reach out for support?” I love the way KBR has established such wonderful options for seeking help. Everyone's insurance, you can arrange a private therapist and many of those have telehealth options, so you don't have to leave your desk. You can do it right there at your desk or after you get home. We want to make sure we provide services that are convenient for those that need them. KBR has a wonderful EAP, option employee assistance program, and you would have confidentiality in seeking out help of our EAP. Just call set up the appointment and you can be seen fairly quickly.

The other things that I would recommend that we do is to reach out to each other and check on our friends, and when we recognize that there is a problem, help our friends get set up for services.

John Arnold

Is there anything else you'd like to add for our listeners before we let you go?

Holly Robles

Yes. We have launched, nationwide, a new crisis hotline. That number is 988. So if you are in crisis or if you know someone that is struggling, it's okay to reach out to a trained provider at 988. In the meantime, I encourage you each to love the person around you like it's your last day with them and continue to show them the kind of support and love you would to the people around you that love you.

John Arnold

Dr. Robles, thank you so much for what has truly been an inspiring and eye-opening interview. We thank you so much for your time.

Holly Robles

Thanks, John.

CONCLUSION

John Arnold

Well, again, we talk so much about the work KBR does to take on challenges like climate change, energy transition, and national security. What we've heard today from Dr. Holly Robles about the crucial work KBR does to support mental health and behavioral health has been truly inspiring. Again, we want to thank Dr. Robles for letting us have some of her very valuable time.

We also want to take another opportunity to let listeners know that if you're in distress and are currently in need of support, please know that there are resources available and you can dial 988 for immediate assistance. For those outside the U.S. there's a list of international resources available at save.org. And KBR employees, again, can find additional resources through the employee support program.

As always, we want to thank our amazing producer, Emma for all her work on the podcast.

If you'd like to drop us a line, let us hear from you by emailing us at inorbit@kbr.com, and thanks to all of our listeners around the world for spending some time with us today and keeping us in your orbit. Take care.