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IRPO aims to improve quality of life for Airmen, families

  • Published
  • By Holly Logan-Arrington
  • Robins Public Affairs

Improving the quality of life for Airmen and all mission partners, as well as their families, at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is at the top of the Integration Resilience and Prevention Office’s priority list.

Ensuring the needs of health, comfort and happiness for thousands of people are met beyond satisfactory level takes team work.

Just ask Erica Colick, a community support coordinator in Robins IRPO.

Colick’s office provides an integration of violence prevention, resilience and Comprehensive Airmen Fitness, otherwise known as CAF.

“We strive to identify and resolve issues that impact quality of life for Team Robins members and their families,” she said. “It is important we integrate and synergize efforts to address community concerns.”

The IRPO, primarily located at the Robins Conference Center in Building 560 on base, officially opened in 2019.

The local program places community support coordinators, called CSCs, in organizations throughout Robins. 

And, although the office’s structure is unique at the installation level, Colick said it is in line with the organizational setup at the Air Force headquarters and Air Force Materiel Command’s Air Force Resilience and Prevention Operations Branch.

“Our integrated approach and organization structure has been recognized as a promising best practice from both Air Force headquarters and AFMC,” she said.

The Community Resilience Program was initially a pilot for AFMC to implement a program to connect civilian personnel through a resource and referral-modeled program.

Currently, as the Robins IRPO’s CSC, Colick serves as the executive director of the Community Action Board. The Community Action Team, which includes the CAB, ensures all programs and activities are in support of resilience and violence prevention for integration and alignment with the base’s Community Action Plan goals.

The CAT requires helping agencies to collaborate and analyze trends to identify gaps in programs and activities.

“The goal is to always improve quality of life for Team Robins,” Colick said.

Another component of the IRPO is the Violence Prevention Integrator.

“The VPI identifies, implements, and assesses public-health informed and evidenced-based prevention policy, practices, programs and processes,” Colick said. “The VPI also provides installation leaders with available prevention tools and resources that promote a culture of early help seeking.”

The IRPO’s Resilience Program manager is an active-duty Airman who works closely with the office’s CSC to coordinate and perform day-to-day resiliency training efforts, including the Integrated Resilience Training Assistant Program, the Master Resilience Trainer Program, the First-term Airman Course, the Staff Sgt. Felicia R. Rivers Airman Leadership School, and much more.

Robins’ IRPO is currently utilizing an AFMC pilot program called the Community Resilience Program, which involves full-time CRCs and peer support volunteers from units across the installation. CRCs serve as resource and referral coordinators while promoting many other resiliency efforts for their units’ leadership.

Colick said the program’s goals include increasing awareness of resources, enhancing connectedness, and enhancing the organizational climate.

Earlier this year, the IRPO held a Caring for People Forum for junior Airmen, which addressed dorm life, digital needs and single life for Airmen.

Additionally, Robins’ IRPO hosted a teen leadership summit where resilience workshops, as well as SafeTALK suicide prevention training, was offered to teens of Defense Department members.

The team’s collective efforts not only support the base workforce, but they also support Robins’ missions.

“I feel as though we promote positivity, healthy thinking and a prevention mindset in order to maintain a great installation to live, learn, work, and play,” Colick said. “This ensures Robins has a ready force for all missions.”

Colick said taking care of Robins’ people helps in taking care of the overall Air Force mission.

“Resilience and prevention are key when maintaining a ready workforce,” she said. “The IRPO provides training, referrals, programs, resources, events, and much more, which ensures our workforce is ready mentally and physically when called to duty,” she said.

For more information, call Colick at (478) 222-9661 or e-mail the office workflow at mailto:78ABW.CVB.Communitysupport@us.af.mil.