When spouses of Navy personnel are sent to be stationed in Groton, Team Leader for Groton’s COMPASS Team Terri Orlowski said it’s important for those families or couples to have somewhere to go to adjust to their new surroundings.
“COMPASS is a spouse mentoring program, specifically designed for new Navy spouses to help them learn how to navigate the maze of the services,” she explained.
Many times, she continued, when a couple comes to the base and one spouse is deployed, the other is left unaware of where to go for just about anything.
“You have people coming from different communities…people from a surface community stationed here for shore duty assignment…they don’t really know about the submarine community, how people interact, and how things work,” Orlowski said. Others, she added, come back to the COMPASS program every couple of years to see what’s new or what has changed in the Navy community.
COMPASS is a volunteer-run organization and relies on volunteer spouse mentors to help those new to the Navy family to learn about the Navy lifestyle. Mentor sessions are scheduled for Sept. 9 to 11, and the topics to be covered include Navy benefits and services, personal finances, moving, deployment, healthy communication, local insights, and Navy history and traditions. COMPASS is sponsored by the Naval Services Family Line.
COMPASS might not be able to answer all the questions a new community member might have, but it can direct that person in the right direction.
“We have six or seven mentors doing the sessions, and all of our mentors are Navy spouses,” Orlowski explained. “We don’t have specialists come in from the community—it’s a Navy spouse that’s been through it all, has the history, and has the experience.”
She said the organization has another four or five people helping behind the scenes, such as putting together its 14-page resource directory or providing snacks at the sessions.
“It’s all donated by our food angels so we can provide snacks and refreshments. We also provide child care for people when they’re coming so they don’t have to worry about finding someone to watch their kids.”
Throughout the 12-hour COMPASS course, taught over three days and three nights, Orlowski said the Groton COMPASS Team tries to promote the area, explaining how new community members might take advantage of the different elements available to Groton’s Navy spouses.
Orlowski added, “The COMPASS Groton team is a dedicated group of enlisted and officer spouses. We will be saying goodbye to some of our mentors for the upcoming year due to retirement and PCS moves. In addition, we are always looking for some help behind the scenes as administrative help, food angels, child care, and a few other spots.”
Upcoming COMPASS sessions will be held evenings in November and March, and day sessions will be held in January and May. Pre-registration is required. For more information about COMPASS, contact Terri Orlowski at 860-245-0812 or COMPASSGroton@nsfamilyline.org.