Colonels, Captains and Honorary Commanders recently gathered on the McGuire side of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst for the grand opening of Sean’s Room, a 24-hour haven where service members on base can receive support they need with complete confidentiality.
Sean’s Room is a safe, informal mental-health haven located on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. It is designed to give Airmen and other base personnel a place to talk openly, seek help or simply reset — without the barriers or formality of traditional mental-health channels in the following ways:
- It offers peer-to-peer support, staffed by trained volunteers;
- It provides confidentiality, with information shared there not entering medical records;
- It is intended to reduce stigma and increase access to early help.
Sean’s Room, a project years in the making, is now has a permanent location.
Col. Hasson of the 305th Air Mobility Wing led the ceremony by thanking leadership, attendees and partners.
Hasson then told the crowd about some hard-hitting stats from Sean’s room:
Through 18 months (2023-24) Sean’s Room received nearly 1,700 visits from service members and is directly responsible for a whopping 15 crisis saves. That’s 15 men and women of the military whose lives were saved.
In addition, 30% of the topics visitors spoke about could be contributed to their workplace on base.
The base leadership in attendance included Col. Stefanovic, Commander of the 87th Air Base Wing and the “mayor” of JBMDL, and Captain Howell, Commanding Officer, NSA Lakehurst and deputy commander of JBMDL – showing that Sean’s Room has the support of key stakeholders.
Getting here was no easy task. It took 2 years and a truly unique private-public partnership to make it happen.
The 305th Air Mobility Wing partnered with the 87th Air Base Wing to establish the JBMDL Heritage room for Sean’s Room – this ensures the program will have a permanent home on base.
Sean’s Room, which is technically a private organization, will be staffed by volunteers from across the base. This includes Sgt. Paradise Henson, program overseer and manager of day-to-day operations; Sgt. Holt, alternate lead of the 305th. Holt also introduced Col. Hasson at the start of the program; Chief Master Sergent Tiffany Sargent, Col. David Bredsen and Col. Hasson are all key supporters and will serve as advocates for Sean’s Room on base.
When you enter Sean’s Room it’s filled with books, toiletries, artwork, food, board games, mental health reading material – everything a counseling and support service could possibly need.
The Military Support Alliance, a civilian nonprofit that helps support service members on base, helped align most of the private philanthropic support for Sean’s Room. The support aligned by the MSA will help with ancillary projects, future events and future infrastructure updates.
“We want to make sure they have the support to operate for years to come,” Donna Sand said.
Sand is the key person in this story.
A wellness coach by trade, she is an honorary commander with the 305th MXS (which falls under the 305th Air Mobility Wing) and member of the MSA, served as a civilian liaison for the project as well as an advisor and mentor to Sean’s Room.
Sand, started out as a volunteer at Sean’s Room teaching an exercise that helps strengthen emotional intelligence, back when the program did not have its own building. With the help of the late Ray Zardetto, they set out on a mission to get Sean’s Room its own dedicated space, which was not easy.
There were plans, but there were also challenges.
“I kind of became this den mother for them” Sand said, recalling those early struggles. “Working closely with people like Senior Airmen Connor Runkle and Tsgt Kenton Brown was a huge help.”
Runkle and Brown were the first leads for Sean’s Room and early advocates.
Sand and Zardetto eventually found private philanthropic support by spreading the message of the mission of Sean’s Room.
To recap – The 305th is the host of Sean’s Room, and the MSA and 87th serve as mission support partners.
Sand along with other MSA members assisted in attracting various private philanthropic support from organizations such as The Basilone Memorial Foundation and The Dennis A. Vaccaro Foundation. She then advocated the importance of Sean’s Room having its own space close to the dorms with base leadership.
In the end, Sean’s room will serve the over 40,000 personnel working at JBMDL and their families, many of whom live on base. This is a program that has already proven to save, and will continue to save, countless lives. It’s a legacy to be proud of.
The MSA purchased a plaque in remembrance of Zardetto, who passed suddenly last October, and placed it in Sean’s Room. This way everyone who enters will know, that while he couldn’t watch Donna bring it over the finish line, it was Zardetto who got it all started.
For anyone interested in supporting Sean’s Room, they are accepting donations of nonperishable foods, books and board games etc. Please reach out to Sand at [email protected] for more information on how you can help.
