# DLA welcomes new Family Advocacy Program manager

/ Published Dec. 8, 2021
RICHMOND, Va., 
Defense Logistics Agency Installation Management Richmond welcomed Rhiannon Jackson, the family advocacy program manager in Security and Emergency Services, for DLA Installation Management Richmond on Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia, on September 16. 

“The primary mission and role of the Family Advocacy Program is the prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and domestic violence within the military community,” Jackson said. “However, we’re able to help in many other non-clinical areas such as deployment and re-integration, relocation, anger and stress management as well as emergency family assistance. We also partner with other programs that focus on things such as couple’s communication, financial management, parenting classes, and much more.”

After serving eight-years total in the Army and the Army Reserve, in 2010 the New Hampshire native and prior avionics mechanic thought it was time for a change. 

“After several years overseas, and several deployments, I decided it was time to transition out of the military,” Jackson said. “Transitioning back to being a civilian following my time spent in Europe was a challenge. This is around the time that my passion for family programs began although I didn’t realize it then.”

According to Jackson, her first real job following her transition was working as an Army Community Service employee at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She said that it was there that she got to experience what it meant to work in Family Programs and saw firsthand how important these services were for service members and their families. 

She went back to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in human services from the University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2014 as well as a master’s in human and social services management from Walden University based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2017. 

Jackson has since spent many years working in the family programs arena. 

Despite this being her first time managing an entire program, Jackson feels that she is more than capable of getting the job done. Having spent some time working as a Family Advocacy Program specialist at Schofield Barracks in Oahu, Hawaii, and as a mobilization and deployment specialist at Fort Bragg, she is prepared to do the work. 

“My main focus for the program is prevention and education,” Jackson said. “Moving forward, I’d like to build those community relationships and give people a place they can go when they need help working through the many challenges we face in life.” 

Jackson encourages anyone in need of these services to use them. 

“There is a misconception that coming to utilize Family Programs is a bad thing,” Jackson said. “I’d like to change that way of thinking! I’d like for people to attend events and truly see that Family Programs is not a bad thing, rather something used to help supplement and enrich their daily lives.”

Family Advocacy Program services are available to all Defense Department ID card holders.

If you need assistance, please contact Jackson directly either by phone at (804) 279-4337 or by email at Rhiannon.Jackson@dla.mil.