Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today. Listening to my colleagues, I'm inspired by the program I'm involved in.
My name is Beth Corey. I'm executive director of the Gagetown military family resource centre located at CFB Gagetown, in a nice little place called Oromocto, New Brunswick.
I've been the executive director for over seven years. I have an extensive background in community development, working with boards of directors and not-for-profit agencies. My particular passion is family support programs.
I recognize that this particular panel is specifically interested in health services provided to the Canadian Forces personnel with an emphasis on PTSD. The impact that I'm going to talk to you about is on the family. My opinion on this issue is inspired by the direct experience of working every day with military families. This issue, directly related to the member, is not the area that I will focus on; it is the family.
I believe there is a philosophical stand and a commitment from the general public, our federal and provincial and local governments, that military families play an integral part in the Canadian Forces, and their commitment to service and sacrifice are nothing short of extraordinary.
In keeping with this philosophy, there can be no question that military families, specifically spouses and children, have earned the right to receive exceptional services. Military family resource centres across this country are providing that wide range of valuable services and support in the context of community development, giving military families a direct and powerful influence on the wide variety of programs and services available to them. Working in the context of not-for-profit, governed by the people we serve--the spouses and the Canadian Forces members themselves--our work is extraordinary. But I'm here to tell you that we can do better. Now more than ever, in the history of the Canadian Forces, it is time to do more for our military families.
I'm going to talk to you directly about the impact of an operational stress injury on the family. There is no question that those injuries have a serious impact on the extended and immediate family. Issues, supports, and services that are required from a family perspective could include the following: better education on and awareness of what an operational stress injury or PTSD is, what the warning signs are, what loved ones can do to ensure their member is getting the support he or she needs, and how to talk to children about what an operational stress injury is.
Oftentimes, spouses are the first people to identify that something is just not right, the feeling that spouses are overwhelmed and often suffer residual effects of operational stress injuries, including an onset of their own depression and mental health capacity, and some compassion fatigue. It is also common that existing issues are compounded. For example, if the family has children with special needs or there are already financial stressors or relational or marital issues, things that were once manageable have become now unmanageable.
In general there have been a number of what I would call “misleading” definitions of serving the families, from a variety of organizations. The general term or add-on these days to many mandates tends to include the veteran, the member, and their families. But what does this really mean? That's my question.
We are discovering in the field that it sometimes means that families must jump through some policy and territorial divides between Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence. Sometimes it means they must meet specific eligibility requirements before they can be serviced and supported specific to their own needs and requirements.
For example, we have been hearing from Veterans Affairs Canada that they are struggling with the fact that they want to offer services to family. If the operational stress injury sufferer is a VAC client, they can do so, but changes need to be made in order to recognize that family members deserve to be served in their own right, regardless of whether the ex-military member or the serving member has received or even refuses to seek support.
Operational stress injury clinics need to provide services to families. The eligibility of clients means the active CF member can be considered for services at operational stress injury clinics, but only if they receive a referral signed by the Canadian Forces medical officer, and the family is only served if it's deemed appropriate to the Canadian Forces member's treatment. As a system, we need to give families the tools they need to manage the care of themselves and their families, and we need to do better for our military families.
The bottom line is that specialized services and support should be readily available to families regardless of the situation, since these families are being impacted by the consequences of military service and quite often the residual results of trauma from war, which has long-term effects.
It is no longer good enough that we rely completely on referrals to community mental health agencies, civilian counsellors, or to services through the Canadian Forces military assistance program. The programs that I'm mentioning to you come with great difficulties. Sometimes only short-term counselling is available--one to eight sessions--and there are extreme waiting lists. Or issues are compounded because the providers may have little or no experience in military service operations or general understanding of military lifestyles and stressors.
Clearly there is room for better coordination between specialized services and the military family resource centres. More human resources are required for specialized mental health issues associated with unique military lifestyle stressors and issues, perhaps embedded within the military family resource centres or co-located in something like a casualty support unit or transitional support unit, being stood up across the country.
As it stands now, families of serving and released members are not always guaranteed specialized services and support. Initiated programs in the civilian system of support may not be set up to serve their unique needs.
Another population I'd like to talk about are our reservist families. They are perhaps the most vulnerable and under-researched population in the context of families dealing with operational stress injuries. Other casualties are the spouses, parents, and extended family of the reservist. There is no doubt that the military family resource centre in Gagetown meets the needs of those families living close to our facility, but my grave concern is the extent we are able to help families living in the surrounding rural communities of New Brunswick that encompass much of the reserve units.
Although great efforts have been made to travel to reserve units to provide briefings and information, the truth remains that reserve families live too far from their local military family resource centres or the specialized military services and supports that are available on most major bases to make significant use of the resources. We are beginning to see more and more difficulty meeting those needs. Many of these families in reserve force areas are presenting with post-deployment issues. Reservists and their families need extensive education. They need information. They need support services like those provided to all other military families, especially during post-deployment.
Thank you.