My background is that I am a veteran's spouse. I've worked with Peter Stoffer in the past in helping my husband decipher and manoeuvre through the Veterans Affairs system.
Our group, the Caregivers' Brigade, is a group of spouses. We have serving members' spouses, we have veterans' spouses, and we have the old Pension Act spouses. We came together because we saw that there was a need to help other spouses and family members know what's available out there.
My husband and I have been through every part of VAC. Mind you, he released in 2001, and we only started the VAC journey in 2007. As soon as the new veterans charter, or as soon as the veterans charter came out—I know we're trying to get rid of the “new” part—that's when we sort of hit Veterans Affairs.
In terms of the Caregivers' Brigade, the spouses don't know what's available to them. The only way they know what's available to them is if their member comes home and tells them. If you know anything about military, they don't like sharing anything with their spouses. They are sort of left out in the dark in terms of knowing what's available to them.
Our group created a directory of resources. Our website is a directory of resources. We have over 70 links to various resources we have researched that are available to family members, to veterans, and to serving members. Our mission is to provide that directory of resources and help members manoeuvre through the system and know what's available to them. Family members don't know that they can have treatment. There are still members out there who don't know that they can have treatment. We inform them that they can have that treatment and how to get that treatment.
There's a challenge between what we think a case manager is in VAC and what a case manager is in DND. When there's a release, the case manager in DND hands it over to a case manager in VAC. When they're transitioning, what they do in DND is different from what we do in VAC. These members come out thinking that they have the same support system they had in DND, when in some cases it's not the same. It varies from one end of the country to the other. There doesn't seem to be a lot of consistency. This directory of resources allows them to know about the Legion, about CIMVHR, to know about VETS Canada. It lets them know about all the organizations that are out there, what mental health organizations there are. Some of them don't even know about Ste. Anne’s and the mental health treatment there.
So in this we have all these links to these resources. We have connections to many of these resources in that if they're having difficulty deciphering the system, one of us will pick up the phone, make contact with them, and say, “You need to speak to this person. Can I give them your number?” They'll get in direct contact with them.
In essence, that's what we do. We're the connection. We sit on the stakeholders meetings to help learn more about what's available out there as well and to let them know that we're there. I created the website and I maintain the website. I do a lot of the administrative end. Because we've been through every part of the VAC system, we know who to speak to, how to get things done, what applications need to be filled out, and what they're entitled to.
The Caregivers' Brigade is there to assist these families. That way, not only do the spouses not go by the wayside.... In a lot of cases right now, the divorce rate is pretty high. A lot of spouses can't handle it because they don't know what's available to them. We're there to help alleviate some of that stress for them in letting them know what's available. It's also for the children. The children are a huge key in this whole process. When you have an ill or injured member who's coming out of the CF and they're struggling to find themselves, the children seem to get lost. As a spouse, you're split between taking care of your ill or injured member and your family. Sometimes it's the family that suffers, because all our dedication is to our ill and injured in helping them either reintegrate into society or finding the appropriate treatments that are available out there. We do a lot of research. We find out what papers have been written out there, what articles have been written out there.
To give you an example, my daughter is now seeing a psychologist who's helping her deal with what she's been raised with.
I've been with my husband 24 years. I was with him before he went overseas and I've been with him since. My children have been through this gauntlet. My daughter is now 18, so for 18 years of her life she has been living with this, and she doesn't know what a normal relationship is. So in noticing that and picking up on those cues, I sought help for her, but it wasn't easy.
That's why we're here, to help make the assistance, make these pillars, a lot easier for families to get into. If my husband doesn't pick up the phone and say, yes, my daughter needs help, my daughter doesn't get help. It has to go through the member, and that's one of our challenges. Everything has to go through the member, so when we're looking at this, we need to make the doors a little bit more open to the family themselves, not just the members. The members have a lot of supports, a lot of pillars, a lot of areas they can turn to, but the families don't.
I know they talk about how families can be very helpful, that they're there through every step of the way, but unless they're actually told what they can do and what they can't do, they don't know. A lot of the families will say, I've had enough and they walk away. That's happening more and more lately, and it's unfortunate. Then you end up with those who are needing the services of the Legion, or VETS Canada, because they've become homeless. They don't have a home anymore, and it's unfortunate because the family suffers; the kids suffer. That's a big issue with our organization, not only taking care of ourselves. A lot of us are very strong men and women as spouses, but there are some who really just don't know where to turn. That's where our directory of resources comes in to let them know what's actually available out there.