ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --
The 78th Air Base Wing has a new violence prevention integrator.
Greg Purvis started at the Robins Integrated Prevention and Resilience Office as the new base VPI in late June of this year.
The mission of the IPRO is to promote integration and provide resources to build resilience skills in our Airmen and families, to eliminate interpersonal and self-directed violence, and to enhance the sense of connectedness and purpose within the various base organizations.
“There are multiple mission partners across Robins, and the more resilient and connected our employees are, the more mission ready they will be,” said Purvis. “We are a total force support team, working closely with both our civilian and active duty Airmen.”
Purvis said the VPI is important to the IPRO mission.
“I’m responsible for developing and overseeing violence prevention training for both civilian and active duty Airmen,” he said. “We are teaching comprehensive resilience skills to our community in an effort to stop violence before it happens.
“I also work closely with our leaders and helping agencies to make sure we are accurately tracking and addressing incidents of violence when they do unfortunately occur.”
Purvis, a former a military family life counselor here at Robins, said he enjoys working with people.
“I am drawn to opportunities to connect with people in meaningful ways that might have a positive impact,” he said. “I was originally drawn to the VPI position because I knew how great this team is and how hard they work to create a better environment in this community.
“We’re out here listening, learning, teaching, advocating, responding, and communicating across the entire installation in an effort to promote connectedness and help-seeking behavior,” he continued.
Purvis said September is National Suicide Prevention Month and the Community Action Team will be hitting the pavement for an outreach and gate blitz campaign.
“We’ll be arranging to go into various units to give out some swag and remind people of what we do and how to reach us,” he said. “At the end of the month we will hang out by all of the gates and hoist some uplifting and light-hearted signs to remind our wingmen they are appreciated and hopefully send people home with a smile. You never know what kind of difference that can make.”
If interested in participating with the gate blitz, Purvis encourages them at gregory.purvis.1@us.af.mil.
Purvis said he has never been involved with a group that works harder than Robins IPRO.
“I encourage everyone to go to www.robins.af.mil and click on the H.O.P.E button,” he said. “There you’ll find a comprehensive menu of our helping agencies.
“Whether you’re looking for legal assistance, counseling, help with a special needs child, or a crisis hotline, you’ll find the resource and contact information you need right there,” he continued. “You can always call our office at 478-926-7400, and in cases of emergency, dial 911 or 988, which is the new number for the suicide hotline nationwide.”