Thank you.
First, I would like to express my appreciation to the chair and the committee for providing me the opportunity to address the very timely issue of women in the military. In addition, I would like to acknowledge my personal heroes, these courageous, capable, patriotic women who have devoted their careers to keeping our country safe, both here at home and abroad.
It is an absolute honour to work alongside you in your healing journey.
As a note about myself, I'm the director of the Operational Stress Recovery Clinic in Vernon, B.C., under the auspices of the Davidson Institute.
In 2015, we were tasked by VAC to develop a specialized program for women veterans who are dealing with PTSD and, in particular, MST. This program was the first of its kind on the country. We consulted with VAC, with women veterans, did considerable research on the topic and determined the best evidence-based therapeutic approaches. We developed a model of care utilizing a bio-psycho-social framework. Autonomy and respect for the individual were and continue to be absolutely paramount.
The program is a six-week residential outpatient program, with a two-week follow-up and six months of intensive aftercare. The strengths include small groups, all women, daily trauma-informed therapy and self-regulation training, and many outside activities, from trauma yoga to equine therapy, music, art and float tanks. These are all what we call somatic strategies and are cutting edge in terms of trauma treatment.
The results have been phenomenal, both in terms of quantitative and qualitative data. We have that information on our website. The women have reported vast improvement and reduction of PTSD-related symptoms, improved quality of life, improved relationships and so on—so far, so good.
What has happened? The number of participants who are actually able to access our programs has slowed to a trickle. We receive many inquiries from women veterans, health care providers, etc., who want to make referrals but cannot navigate the process through VAC.
I'm not here to vilify VAC. There are many caring people who work at VAC, but the system is broken.
Let me relate a case in point.
We recently had a referral, a veteran, who had their proverbial ducks in a row. We calculated the number of administrative hours on our part alone trying to move this referral through the channels. It took 100 hours for one referral on our part. Goodness knows how many hours this veteran and all of the health care providers put in.
A common theme is that a veteran has the backing of their entire health care team—we're talking about psychologists, psychiatrists, medical doctors, counsellors, occupational therapists, people who really are in the know—but are turned back at the eleventh hour from exercising their choice of treatment program.
What typically happens is that they're referred to a large in-patient addiction facility, which is absolutely not appropriate to the population we serve. The veteran in question from the last example was turned down and instructed to attend a large addiction treatment centre. The veteran was devastated and was actually retraumatized. On admission to these programs, personal items and phones are removed, and prescription medications are doled out. One veteran even told me that candy, cigarettes and gum were removed. People were not treated with respect or dignity and were actually retraumatized. I have many stories, and I'll save you the details.
One female veteran told me she was roomed with a former gang member, an active addict. She was terrified. Another was roomed with somebody who was threatening her with box cutters. Again, she was terrified. Similarly, these are coed facilities. Women are placed with men with whom they have often had negative experiences. In another case, this summer, I received a phone call one evening from a woman veteran in the Okanagan. She was homeless. She found my name on the Internet and called me.
It's the Okanagan. We all know the Okanagan. In the summer, fires are raging. There's smoke and hazard alerts. You're not supposed to be outside. She was homeless and asked if I could help her. She was calling from a borrowed phone. She didn't have a phone. I said, “I'll check around and call you back.”
I checked around with my contacts, found her a bed at a local shelter and called her back. She said, “I can't go there. I've been to shelters before. I've been assaulted. I've been robbed. I'd rather sleep rough.” This person had no vehicle, no money and no phone, and she had to sleep rough somewhere in thick smoke with fire danger all around her.
The next morning, I called her case manager back. He's a very good man. I have worked with him on a number of occasions with other veterans. I explained the situation. The response was, “We can't help her until she settles down and stays put.” I said, “Until you help her to settle down and stay put....”
Am I done?
