Focus on Resilience

Balancing Coast Guard service, a family, and personal needs can be hard. Coast Guard members spend months at sea or deployed from home, and long hours in their service to the Nation. Many Coast Guard members are young, living far from home for the first time.

Prioritizing the morale and wellness of Coast Guard personnel and their families is crucial — not only so they remain always ready for their assignments, but so they can maintain their own physical and mental well-being while at sea or stationed in remote areas.

Tragedy Assistance

When Coast Guard families or units face the unthinkable loss of an active-duty member, we are there with immediate financial and morale support. We listen closely to individuals and families—and anticipate their needs—to ensure we provide relevant care in the wake of tragedy.

An injured or critically ill Coast Guard member deeply affects family and loved ones. Our tragedy assistance support program ensures that families can focus exclusively on recovery. This dedicated and robust financial support system allows families and fellow service members to be nearby during these difficult times.

To support active-duty Coast Guard members in their time of great loss, the Coast Guard Foundation’s tragedy assistance program includes assistance after the death of a Coast Guard spouse or child.

Active-duty Coast Guard members can request a grant of immediate support in the wake of dependent death to help cover family travel, needs of the surviving family members, and unexpected expenses.

To inquire about tragedy assistance support, please contact Ms. Sage Williams at swilliams@coastguardfoundation.org or 860-535-0786.

Disaster Relief

When natural disasters strike, Coast Guard members are often first responders—leaving their own impacted homes and property to aid others. We assess member and family needs through our disaster relief and response program and make sure they have resources to bounce back from hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and more.

Coast Guard members are eligible for a grant to cover personal loss and basic needs after a storm strikes. These needs include the replacement and repair of household goods, food and basic necessities, insurance deductibles, temporary housing, and emergency travel.

Fallen Heroes Scholarship

Our Fallen Heroes Scholarship is granted to Coast Guard children whose parent die in an operational, line-of-duty death. This scholarship covers 100 percent of their higher education costs ensuring service members' children have the opportunity to graduate college debt free.

Mental Resiliency

Balancing Coast Guard service, family, and personal needs can be hard. Coast Guard members spend months at sea or deployed from home, and long hours in their service to the nation. Many Coast Guard members are young, living far from home for the first time. And many people don’t reach out for help when it is needed or don’t recognize others who are in crisis.

To support mental resiliency in the service we provide the following programs:

Shipmate Support Peer Training: The suicide prevention and intervention peer training program assists Coast Guard members in crisis and helps them connect with peer support to promote healthy relationships. When there’s a need for higher levels of care, referral resources are available to ensure that members’ health and well-being are the top priority. Shipmate Support Peers receive training, with specific focus on ASIST, a suicide prevention and intervention training module.

Resiliency Workshops: Activities for personal and team growth focus on emotional, mental, physical and spiritual resilience to enhance Coast Guard members’ quality of life by decreasing stress and anxiety and providing tools to face life’s challenges. The workshops can include physical challenges, like a ropes course, mountain climbing, and trail hikes, accompanied by small group work and personal reflection.

Marriage Retreats: Guided retreats for Coast Guard members and spouses provide an opportunity for couples to work on healthy communication and building a strong relationship.