I'll try to be brief. Thank you for the question.
My experience with getting help.... I wandered in the woods for about four years of my life where I did not work. PTSD grasps so seamlessly with your own sense of self, it's like the devil touching you on the sleeve. It's almost impossible to see it in yourself. In my case, I wanted to deny it. I didn't want to admit that I was wounded. I wanted to go on. I had a friend, not dissimilar to Mr. Meincke, who was really instrumental in bringing me in from no-man's land.
When I started to reach out, the process was to deny: “We won't accept your claim” or “We need more of this.” I was at the point where my mind was what it was, and my back was out. I had a major heart attack and was on disability from this job. You have trouble feeding your family, and to hear the approach on the phone that “Well, you're going to have to do this” or “We need more of that”.... I was at the point where I was selling my medals on eBay to try to make mortgage payments on my farm.
It's a fundamental misunderstanding of who we are. I wanted to be good again. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I knew I couldn't walk straight. I knew the fundamental misunderstanding with the person on the phone. I'm not a quitter. I'm even having trouble putting it into words for you today.
To answer your question, for me, attitude and understanding are such important qualities in an institution, in a thinking institution. The name of this ministry is Veterans Affairs Canada. How can you not know us so well? How can you not be absolute experts on Canadian veterans, when that is your single point of focus in taking care of the men and women who have served this country?
I come back to education. It starts at the top. I have long said that at the top end of this department they don't seem to get that they are not an insurance company. They don't seem to get that they're in the business of taking care of human beings who would have given their last breaths to protect you, and many of them have.