FORT IRWIN, Calif.  — Army policy allows for Child Youth Service offices to close once a year for training and Dec. 20 was one of those days. CYS facilities were closed, allowing all 90 providers availability to capture mandatory, annual training and build team morale.

This year’s annual training not only included the garrison safety message and blood-borne pathogen sessions, but primarily focused on observation on suicide awareness, bullying, transgender, and resiliency, as those issues are becoming more prevalent and current in today’s society.

“Strategies we find work the best when dealing with kids with behavior issues is positive reinforcement ahead of time,” Zeb Pau, CYS Program Operations Specialist said. “Self-esteem with kids, competency, a sense of inclusion and belonging, influence our youth centers’ direction. Typically bullies become bullies because of lack of self-esteem.”

Providers were divided into different groups as they learned and engaged in different scenarios, to better equip the staff for handling misconceptions and identifying strategies to handle serious obstacles.

The training took place at the Middle School and Teen Center (MST), Samuel Adams and the FCC facilities.