Beads of Courage for Military Families

Beads of Courage is grateful for the opportunity to support military families through our arts in medicine programs. We recognize the challenges these families encounter in the midst of serving our country along with frequent transfers. Currently, we are able to support military families with Beads of Courage in the following ways:

• Direct enrollment and support at Tripler Army Medical Center
• Direct enrollment and support at Brooke Army Medical Center
• Beads in the Mail - Opportunity for military families who are not near or transferred away from a BOC member hospital to get their Beads of Courage
• Our hope is to establish BOC program support in other military hospitals.

Your donation goes directly to covering the cost of program beads freely given to children along with the related program materials required to provide the Beads of Courage program. (For our Beads in the Mail military families, your donation also covers the shipping and handling costs to get their beads directly to them)

About the Beads of Courage® Program The Beads of Courage® Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program, children tell their stories using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that they receive to honor and acknowledge each step of their treatment journey. The program has been designed to honor everything a child goes through from diagnosis to completion of treatment. Each bead represents that "I DID IT" and is a constant reminder that they are strong and they can do it again tomorrow!

Outcomes-Every bead tells a story of courage, honor, and hope Ongoing evaluation of the Beads of Courage® program indicates the support helps to decrease illness-related distress, increase the use of positive coping strategies, helps members find meaning in illness, and restore a sense of self in those coping with serious illness. The program also provides something tangible the member can use to tell about their experience during treatment and after.

"Beads of Courage are a tangible part of my daughter's story of tragedy to triumph. Her strand is not complete but on the days when she feels weak, she can hold them and see how much she has conquered and weathered. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I hold them, too, and am reminded of how much our family has fought thru together. They aren't just pretty beads- they are a living growing documentation of her fight for health, a lifeline. We draw strength from them. It also means we aren't alone, that others can recognize all that my child has gone through and her fight." Mary

About Beads of Courage, Inc. Beads of Courage, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization committed to strengthening resilience and promoting the well-being of children coping with serious illness, their families, and the clinicians who care for them. Beads of Courage, Inc. achieves its mission through the development and implementation of innovative Arts-in-Medicine programs. www.beadsofcourage.org