Evidence of meeting #41 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was services.
A recording is available from Parliament.
As an Individual
I know, but he's released now, right? They kicked him out.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Again, if you feel you're breaching any privacy, please.... When he was taking the medications you said he was on, how many was he taking?
February 8th, 2017 / 4:55 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm not sure of the amount he was taking, but I know he said his dreams were horrible and it was impacting his sleep while he was tour. So it felt like he was getting even less sleep. He was in the infantry, so it's not like they get nice sleeping arrangements when they're away.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
No, and they don't sleep in the nicest, most comfortable places either.
You were here earlier today for our earlier presentations, and you saw two programs that we've learned about and a couple of others. I hadn't heard of Can Praxis. It was new to me. I'm just wondering if you would expand on that a little for us.
As an Individual
Can Praxis is equine therapy. There are three phases to the program. In the first, you go with your spouse and meet.... I can't remember the number of other couples, but on the first day, all the spouses get together and the veterans work separately. You're working with horses. They have obstacle courses laid out.
Steve Critchley is a mediator and Jim Marland is a psychologist. They work with us through these obstacle courses and build on the communication. What's amazing is that you're there and it gets driven home to you that you are not broken—you are injured, you are wounded, but you are not broken—and that you're worth it. I can't even tell you how many times we heard, “you're worth it”.
Another thing they explained is that if you're a person who is injured and you're jumping in a pile of poo, you're not the only one who is going to be covered in it. That's why they said they wanted to bring the families into it as well, because it's not just the veteran who is impacted by this.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
There's a hashtag #SickNotWeak, which basically expands on what you talked about. A couple of things we've heard and that I mentioned earlier were the issue of identity and his loss of identity. I heard you say earlier that he was stigmatized earlier on, which is another thing that we've learned about in some of our testimony. I'm just wondering if you could expand—quickly, because I don't think I have much time—on the identity loss and the impact on that.
As an Individual
It's a family, and you get kicked out of your family. It's gone. Your life has been peachy, you're serving your country, and then all of a sudden you're just not good enough any more. So it's like, who is he? He can't work out any more because of his physical injuries. He feels he can't provide anything for our family. That's why he would try to end his life, because he thought that we would be better off without him. He didn't serve a purpose any more. He was in the military for eighteen and a half years, and it bugs him to no end that he didn't get to finish his contract.
Conservative
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Thank you, Ms. Thomas, for coming today. You and I first met at a veterans' round table in Hampton. You had heard about it and reached out to us to see if you could come. I think it has been probably a very valuable thing that you did, not only for the course of that round table but also for today.
You mentioned the military resource family centre, and you heard the testimony here as well. Have you seen improvements? How did you access those services? Could you tell us about that?
As an Individual
I accessed the service while my husband was still serving. Marc was released in 2012, and it was not available once you were released. I was on the board of directors at the MFRC in Montreal at that time. I had to step down from that, and we no longer could continue with services from there.
While he was serving and we were accessing that service, it was amazing. I used the family liaison officer—I was going to speak to that—and she helped me so much. It was nice to go to a place where there was a culture of people who understood. I've seen civilian psychologists who just didn't get it. Having that level of understanding and compassion was helpful for our family. We used child care services. There were a lot of things we used while he was serving within that unit.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Was it part of of your recommendation or your work that those services are now extended to veterans? Are you pleased with that?
As an Individual
I am very pleased that it has been extended to families.
I don't know rank very well. It's something that I never.... There was someone who came to speak at our board of directors meeting, and I got up, crying, because that was the first time I heard that I was no longer going to be able to access the services I was using. The meeting couldn't continue, because we didn't meet quorum anymore after I left. I got too emotional. It was just too overwhelming for me to stay.
I'm very happy that it's now....
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Good.
One of the things you talked about was the upfront cost to accessing some of the services, and how that has been a barrier. We heard that from military family resource centre as well.
Can you expand on that and give us some examples of how that's been a barrier for your family?
As an Individual
Yes. I wasn't able to continue working. My husband got his diagnosis after 2006. He is a newer veteran. He's under the lump sum payout. When he received his, he was working full time, and I was also still able to work. After we had only his pension, every time I would go back to work in order to increase our family income, he would try to hurt himself, so I had to stop that. We were living on just his pension. We had to sell our house in Quebec because we could no longer afford it. We wanted to be closer to family in New Brunswick, but we also couldn't afford our house in Quebec.
If we didn't have the money for accessing services such as COPE or Can Praxis, people lent us money to pay the upfront cost and we reimbursed them when we were reimbursed.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
That's even though they're approved services through Veterans Affairs.
As an Individual
They're not approved services through Veterans Affairs but are providers. They're both going through studies. That's what's happening right now, from my understanding. The psychologists and social workers running them are all certified providers for Veterans Affairs.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Have things changed as far as the service for your children is concerned? Have you been able to access adequate services for your children?
As an Individual
Our case manager now is approving psychological services for our children. Yes. They are now six and seven. When I first started looking, they were younger. It's been two years now that they've had services.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you very much, Ms. Thomas. I'm grateful for your testimony. I think that what you had to say pulls things together. It sheds light and brings clarity.
First, I want to say thank you to your husband for his service, but thank you for loving him.
You said some things that disturbed me very much. I wonder if you could comment. I went to a mental health conference, and they talked about the fact that we want to pigeonhole people and provide labels for their injuries and mental health instead of addressing the trauma. You talked about addressing the trauma rather than giving all kinds of medicines that have a debilitating effect on the individual. Obviously it's important.
Can you underscore what difference it would have made to you and your family had that basic understanding been there?
As an Individual
I think it would have had a tremendous impact on us. Once the trauma has been processed, the triggers aren't as severe. He would have had time.... I feel that if he had had trauma therapy, we wouldn't have had the experiences we had. I might not have needed therapy for as long as I did, because he wouldn't have been traumatizing all of us had he dealt with his trauma.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
I found your statement about the commanding officer asking what an OSI is absolutely mind-boggling. It seems to be a very destructive kind of response. Do you think, based on your experience, that there's a lack of awareness among those in the chain of command about what this injury means?
As an Individual
We were posted to St-Jean, so we were at the school in St-Jean, and I believe the same level of understanding was not there. If we had still been at Gagetown, I think there would have been a different level of understanding. There may also have been a language barrier. I'm not sure. If French had been used—I think it's TSO. Maybe if he had said that...I'm not sure if it was a language barrier or not.
