Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 222
View Rachel Blaney Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you, Chair.
Ms. O'Brien ended her answer to my question talking about making sure that veterans are ready for the dog. I'm just wondering if that did come up in other testimony. One of the concerns is having a service dog placed and not having the capacity within the veteran's household to care for the dog.
I'm just wondering, Ms. Forbes, if you could start, and then maybe I'll come to you, Ms. MacKenzie, to just talk about how that assessment is done and what supports are in place, not only for the veteran but for the family to support the service dog.
Danielle Forbes
View Danielle Forbes Profile
Danielle Forbes
2021-06-07 17:01
For our part, we actually use the prescriber guidelines that were developed by Kristine Aanderson. She was also my co-chair in the CGSB committee. That is our first line of defence because that allows us to ensure that there's been a conversation with a medical professional about a state of readiness and whether it's the best fit. We often get looped into those conversations, so it doesn't happen just between our clients and their treatment professionals. It's usually a three-way conversation between National Service Dogs, the treatment professional....
Built into our policy, based on the ADI PTSD standards for military, we are required to make sure that we are engaging on that mental health piece. Emergency supports are put in place so that there are at least two other individuals in that client circle of support whom we can reach out to if they're in crisis, not only to deal with the safety of the dog but to make sure the client is safe. That is built into the ADI PTSD standards for military. We also make sure our follow-up process is intensive and that we follow up well with the clients. We made the commitment at NSD to have a mental health professional on staff, not just on standby.
I'm sorry. I probably blew through your two minutes.
Laura A. MacKenzie
View Laura A. MacKenzie Profile
Laura A. MacKenzie
2021-06-07 17:03
I'll just say that, yes, we follow pretty well the same thing Danielle does. We have a lifetime membership for our members. Most of our members come back even when they're done, so we see them typically for a weekly or biweekly visit. We call it the K-9 Country Inn family. Our members just keep coming back, but we do the same things. We talk to their health providers. We have meetings with them. We talk about what tasks are going to be required of the dog, and then we have people we can call if we think the person is in crisis. It's the same type of thing.
Medric Cousineau
View Medric Cousineau Profile
Medric Cousineau
2021-06-07 17:04
If you look at the prescriber guidelines, you will find that the service dog readiness decision tree is the second of three decision trees. I think that will lay to rest a lot of these issues.
Peter Holt
View Peter Holt Profile
Peter Holt
2021-05-28 14:27
As I said, we need to have an open mind when it comes to standards. Let me repeat that what matters is mental health.
I see soldiers with whom I have worked for many years who are not the same as they were 10 years ago, before they were deployed to Afghanistan or wherever. So it is important to consider the mental health aspect.
We are looking for a good dog, who can follow commands and all that, but I think you have to balance the mental health of the veteran with the behaviour of the dog in terms of obedience.
View John Brassard Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you, Phil. Good to see you again, by the way.
In the minute I have left, Colleen, and perhaps Darlene, do you see a need for accessibility standards apart from training standards?
Colleen Anne Dell
View Colleen Anne Dell Profile
Colleen Anne Dell
2021-05-28 15:23
I'm going to answer that with what Philip was saying. Staff need to be trained in mental health. With our SUAP grant right now, we've trained 30 service dog organization staff in peer support with mental health innovations. We've been evaluating that. We've had them all take mental health first aid from the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Those are the types of things. I don't know if this is answering your question, but that has to be part of that standard process too. It's not just about training that dog and handing that dog over. It's about that veteran being part of the peer support group.
You heard of the fire buddy earlier. A different term may have been used. We use fire buddy a lot. That is what that dog becomes, as well as the group that the people are with. We have seen the ability to do that now online, which has been really challenging during the pandemic, but we've also been able to go online and do some of that.
Crystal Garrett-Baird
View Crystal Garrett-Baird Profile
Crystal Garrett-Baird
2021-05-12 17:10
It's a mental health service dog.
Lee Windsor
View Lee Windsor Profile
Lee Windsor
2021-05-10 16:17
I believe it to be one of the most important issues on the table here. We know that moral injury is a component of mental wellness. I'm not sure if you've been introduced to that term with regard to it being a component of post-traumatic stress injury or disorder or operational stress injuries.
Certainly, we have seen it be an aggravating factor in recent suicide cases for veterans who have served in Afghanistan, many of whom have questions about their service there and whether or not it.... Given that the entire world is now looking with interest to determine the outcome of that mission, in the absence of government recognition of that service in Afghanistan, veterans are left to their own devices to fall back on media statements that it was a waste and a failure. Therefore, if you pulled the trigger and killed someone, or if you lost a fellow soldier in combat or suffered an injury yourself, posing the question to yourself as to whether it may not have been worth it in the first instance is a powerful burden to put on someone.
That's Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a case where there has been some degree of public recognition, even if it's grassroots recognition from the people of Canada, as well as the government, at least in the early years of the war. But when I mention the case of injury to the soul, I think mainly about those veterans who served in the 1990s, my own generation, and not just from personal bias but from an awareness that at the end of the Cold War, we saw a tremendous spike in global conflict and a tremendous ratcheting up of the level of violence. I'm sure Sean can attest to this too, from the look of the ribbons he's wearing on his chest, that peacekeeping became peacemaking. I'm sure you're familiar with this phenomenon. We see too the spike in mental illness and mental injuries and claims in Veterans Affairs as a result of the massive growth in exposure to combat trauma in Somalia, in the former Yugoslavia, in Cambodia and of course in Rwanda.
Glynne Hines
View Glynne Hines Profile
Glynne Hines
2021-04-21 15:38
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, members of this committee, and fellow panel members, good afternoon. I'd like to thank you for the invitation to appear today.
Before I get into the substance of deliberations, I'll give a brief background of myself. I am a veteran of 41 years' service of the Canadian Armed Forces, in the regular and the reserve forces, having served in the army, the navy and the air force. When I retired in 2012, I remained in Brussels, where I was the civilian director of NATO's intelligence-sharing enterprise.
None of this has anything to do with veteran mental health care. However, since that time I've been involved with supporting and advocating on behalf of veterans and their families in a variety of capacities, with my emphasis being on veteran and family mental wellness.
I understand the focus of your committee right now in this session is on the supports and services to veterans' caregivers and families, and that today you wish to focus on three elements: the impact of the caregiver recognition allowance since its introduction; the relevance and possible means of enabling family members to get VAC services on their own behalf; and to reflect more generally on the support offered by VAC to family members, particularly when it comes to veteran health that requires ongoing care.
Starting with the caregiver recognition benefit, I just want to correct a statement that was made in my invitation, which referred to something called a “caregiver recognition allowance”. It's actually the caregiver recognition benefit, and this nuance is important. It's not an allowance per se, but it's a $1,000-per-month benefit to recognize, and not compensate, the contribution of a family caregiver to the care and recovery of our most severely disabled veterans based on their disability, not necessarily based on the impact on the family. It does not replace income or earnings lost by these family caregivers; it merely recognizes that they have a role to play in caring for the veteran.
As I indicated previously, in my advocacy role my emphasis is on veteran mental health. I'm particularly interested in the caregiver recognition benefit as it applies to veterans with a diagnosed mental health condition.
Since raising this issue of equitability—that is, the equitability between a veteran with a mental health condition and a veteran with a physical disability—I have focused on some data from VAC. It indicates that approximately 70% of the applicants for the caregiver recognition benefit are in receipt of disability benefits for a mental health condition, and that 81% of those eligible for that benefit actually have an approved disability entitlement for mental health conditions. So, in fact, it does appear that the award of the caregiver recognition benefit is equitable for veterans struggling with mental health conditions as it is for those with physical disabilities.
When we talk about enabling families to obtain VAC services on their own behalf, I think we could take a lesson from our allies in Australia. In Canada, there are very few supports and services provided to family members, and there are no supports and services provided to family members on their own right from VAC. Family members will only get support from VAC if it is directly related to the veteran's condition and recovery. This means that the family's need for support must be directly related to the member's condition and treatment. Thus, if a veteran himself or herself does not have an awarded condition, a family member who may be suffering as a result of the member's service is not able to access VAC support for themselves, and this is especially important when we're dealing with family mental health. The veteran may choose not to apply for a disability award or to seek help, for whatever their own personal reason is, but that doesn't mean that his or her dependants aren't adversely impacted by the veteran's service, or that they don't need help.
Consider for a moment the teenager who has moved with their parents every few years while growing up. A parent is deployed every few years, school has been disrupted, the teen starts struggling with their own mental health. They don't have access to mental health care, because they're always moving, and they go on a rather lengthy provincial waiting list to get care. They don't have access to VAC services because their veteran parent doesn't have an awarded condition, so they suffer without help, even though their condition may well be attributed to the veteran's service.
We used to say that members joined the Canadian Armed Forces, but their families were drafted. I chose to join. My wife and my kids didn't choose to join, but they have been subject to all the career implications and the lifestyle implications as a result of my service. Unfortunately, in retirement or after release, this continues, whereby the dependants are struggling sometimes with conditions that their veteran parent has, but they don't have access to services and support.
The care and support needed are often in the area of mental health, and it's a discipline that is stigmatized, making access even more difficult for spouses and children. Veterans and their families face a unique experience during a military career and transitioning to civilian life, and it is very difficult for them to get the care they need while they're on lengthy provincial waiting lists, especially for mental health conditions.
Military life can involve significant challenges, not the least of which is exposure to life-and-death situations. For many veterans, military service and operational deployments can lead to a strong sense of identity and belonging. For clinicians working with veterans, demonstrating an understanding of the military experience enhances the therapeutic alliance so they can get effective treatment.
View John Brassard Profile
CPC (ON)
Oftentimes when a veteran is dealing with mental or physical injuries, occupational stress injuries or mental health, they just can't take it anymore, can they? If you're exhausted, I can't imagine how exhausted veterans and their families are in going through this process time and time again, as is the case with Max. Finally you just throw your hands up, and he told us that this week in a separate message system. He said, “I don't know what to do anymore.” Is that the kind of thing you hear often?
Greg Passey
View Greg Passey Profile
Greg Passey
2021-04-21 16:16
Yes. I deal almost exclusively with post-traumatic stress disorder, and about 49% of people with PTSD think about suicide; 19% actually act on it.
I've been very fortunate. I think it's partly the therapeutic relationship and the bond I have as a fellow veteran. In all my years—in June I'll have been a doctor for 41 years—I've never lost a patient to suicide, but the example I gave you would have been my first, and I didn't know about it. That's telling me that not only are they getting worn down, but they're now starting to not reach out, because had he reached out, I could have done something about that.
It's a really dire scenario. We're not tracking the suicides when our veterans leave the military. To be honest, every one of my veterans—and I mean every one—develops anxiety when they get a letter or an email from VAC, because the vast majority have had negative interactions.
There's a reason why there's bulletproof glass in the VAC offices now, and that shouldn't be there; it should be a supportive environment.
View Rachel Blaney Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you, Dr. Passey.
I'm going to come back to you again, and I want to thank you for acknowledging the great workers who are in VAC. I agree with you; there are amazing workers. I think one of the biggest challenges is that they're being put into a box where it is like these outputs are more important than the human connection, and that does concern me.
My next question to you is really.... First of all, I just want to acknowledge that the vast majority of caregivers are women, and women's work continues to be undervalued again and again in our system. I think that when we look at $1,000 a month for women who often have given up big chunks of their careers because they believe in the service that their partner provided, we need to acknowledge that and understand how we're valuing that.
My bigger concern on this issue is that caregivers, families and loved ones are being asked to treat and manage PTSD with no training and no support. I think about listening to them talk about modifying all this behaviour and trying to create a safe space in a world that is often very triggering.
I'm just wondering what the impact on the family is. You talked about how many partnerships are ending because of this. What is the impact on the family, and how does the lack of knowledge affect that? What are the tools that would be more supportive to caregivers?
Greg Passey
View Greg Passey Profile
Greg Passey
2021-04-21 16:37
You can actually develop what's called vicarious PTSD as a result of being exposed over long periods of time to individuals who have untreated PTSD and are very symptomatic. Family members, that can be the kids, that can be the caregivers, etc., can actually develop their own mental health issues. There's no way around that.
I know when I was still working at the B.C. Operational Stress Injury Clinic, we had a group program that attempted to address this. We had the spouses come in, and we tried to give them some tools and stuff, but it's difficult to understand and treat this disorder when you're a professional. As a layperson watching a loved one go through this, it can be quite devastating, because you personalize what's occurring and you think that it's your fault that your partner is blowing up or whatever, and it typically has nothing to do with you. It's because they've been triggered. We need better education. We need better resources available for family members and, particularly, the caregivers.
In caregiving at this level, professionals have difficulty with it, and we're expecting amateurs, lay people, to do this. I think the caregiver allowance.... If it's $4,000 a month for someone to be in a long-term care facility and we're only paying a caregiver $1,000, I think that's crazy. They need better support financially, emotionally and professionally to do this type of support.
Results: 1 - 15 of 222 | Page: 1 of 15

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data