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Reservist offers classes to help people 'move forward'

  • Published
  • By Megan Just
  • 452nd AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  An Air Force reservist here is helping others on base by offering behavior health classes.

Tech. Sgt. William Pryor travels to classrooms across the base to teach classes on anger management, stress management and posttraumatic stress disorder. "Moving Forward" classes are held on a by-request basis.

In addition to being a reservist in the base's Airman and Family Readiness Office, Sergeant Pryor is a police officer for the County of San Diego. He holds a master of arts degree in sociological practice and has written a book about non-traditional community policing practices.

"We're setting the standard for doing an in-house, on-base program," he said.

Sergeant Pryor has struggled with anger and stress and has learned valuable tools for managing his behaviors. Sharing these tools and resources was his primary motivation in creating the Moving Forward curriculum.

The classes are held each unit training assembly weekend, but Sergeant Pryor wanted the classes to be available to March people who work during the week.

"I've been teaching up to three classes a day, and each class has been about two hours," he said. "We've been getting a good turnout, positive feedback and people are excited.

"People are realizing 'Whoa, I've been waiting for this for the last fifteen years,'" he said. "That shocked me. I had no idea how needed these classes were going to be."

The classes focus on teaching the signs and symptoms of problems and suggest different tools and resources to change behaviors. Sergeant Pryor said many people are shocked to learn the physical effects of anger and stress.

"They don't recognize the internal breakdown as far as the development of ulcers and cardiovascular and respiratory problems," he said. "Being sleepy, not being able to sleep. Another symptom is that we begin to recognize this as a way of life. But it's not. It's just a behavior that can be changed."

During the classes, Sergeant Pryor teaches students about an emerging form of psychological abuse - workplace bullying. In his job as a police officer, he has recently gone into workplaces to take reports of people feeling threatened because they are being harassed in this manner.

"Workplace bullying is any kind of harassment or threatening that's done in a way without targeting areas such as race, sex, gender, religion," he said. "The bully goes around those to stay out of hot water."

The bullying is a perverse tactic that perpetrators use to gain control, lash out or seek revenge. Anger management can help prevent this type of bullying.

"Bullying in the workplace has been looked at for a long time, but now there are lawsuits being filed," he said. "Companies are putting it into policy that there will be absolutely no bullying tolerated. It brings down the morale and productivity of the company, and the whole organization begins to suffer."

The Moving Forward classes use a practical approach to teach students to aim the large amount of energy contained in anger and stress in the right direction.

"I don't have all the answers," Sergeant Pryor said. "The class isn't about that. It is a forum for people to be able to discuss anger and stress."

Having good communication skills is crucial when dealing with stress and anger management. Sergeant Pryor recommends using concrete, simple words instead of long, drawn-out stories and analogies.

"Part of us being able to de-escalate a situation involving suffering, agony, pain or hurt, or discomfort is allowing for people to communicate in the way they actually think it through themselves," he said.

"If you're not really communicating what you feel and what you think about something, you're pretty much letting go of your emotions and saying whatever you think you should say," he said. "You're not thinking about the consequences and effects it may have on that person or their family or their children when they go home."

The PTSD class encourages students to seek professional help for treatment.

"It's not something a person can get through with willpower alone," said Sergeant Pryor. "The class is going to begin to allow people to see things that have happened to them, things that they've shoved under the rug or they've put on the back burner, may still be affecting them."

The behavior health classes are open to reservists, civilians, contractors and families at March ARB. Sergeant Pryor said the classes will continue as long as there is a demand and budget to support them. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)