AFP/AAC Newsletter #31 - English

Armed Forces Pensioners’ / Annuitants’ Association of Canada Issue #31 • November 2018 F or many decades, evidence has been mounting that retiring from military service is not always a positive process. Veterans sometimes face a number of health issues, including depression, anxi- ety, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. Any one of these challenges can increase the risk of becoming homeless, which was the impetus for the founding of Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada. A nation- al, volunteer driven, non-profit cor- poration, VETS Canada works with Veterans Affairs Canada to provide aid and comfort to veterans who are in crisis, are at risk of becoming homeless, or are homeless. Dedicat- ed to providing emergency support, the organization is typically able to secure temporary shelter and then help veterans find affordable rental accommodation. Female veterans are particularly vulnerable to homelessness. One out of every four shelter users in Canada is a woman; female home- lessness typically triggered by one or more factors including family breakdown, domestic violence and health problems. Quite often, fe- male veterans grapple with psycho- logical and physical damage caused by sexual abuse experienced during military service in addition to suffering myriad stresses associated with being the primary caregiver of dependents. Although VETS Can- ada provides services for both men and women, female veterans re- quire a specialized approach given that they typically present unique situations and challenges, including vulnerability to re-victimization. A March 2015 study by the fed- eral government found that there were 2,250 former Canadian Forces soldiers using homeless shelters on a regular basis. Many of the veter- ans cited alcoholism, drug addic- tion and mental health issues for their predicament. Data collected by VETS Canada shows that 16 per cent of its contacts involve female veterans, which was up from six per cent the previous year. On March 3, 2018, in recogni- tion of International Women’s Day, VETS Canada held its second an- nual In Her Boots event. Volunteer teams walked the streets in fifteen communities across the country, visiting women’s shelters in search of female veterans in crisis. The vol- unteers also collected donations of comfort items which they distribut- ed. In addition to offering support to women in need, the event also succeeded in encouraging dialogue and raising awareness at the lo- cal, provincial and national levels regarding homelessness amongst female veterans and their families. A second key event took place in July of this year, with the rollout of the VETS Canada / True Patriot Love Captain Nichola Goddard Sup- port Initiative for Female Veterans in Crisis. Named in honour of fallen soldier, Captain Nichola Goddard, Homelessness among female veterans a pressing issue next steps; it has also said that it is committed to ensuring veterans have access to the supports and resources they need for their men- tal health and overall well-being and as such remains committed to moving forward with a standard specifically for psychiatric service dogs. The intention is to ensure that these standards are put in place as quickly as possible, so vet- erans will have access to properly trained psychiatric service dogs as needed. Meanwhile, several Canadian organizations are forging ahead with their own plans and programs related to service dogs for veter- ans with PTSD. In February 2018, Wounded Warriors, a Canadian mental-health charity, announced that it will spend $300,000 this year to train 25 PTSD service dogs and pair them with veterans and First Responders who need the support. Other groups involved in this realm include Paws Fur Thought (pawsfurthought.com) , a volunteer-driven initiative that advocates and fundraises to pair PTSD service dogs with veterans and First Responders in need. Doing similar work is Audeamus (audeamus.ca ), a bilingual orga- nization run by injured veterans. It is dedicated to the principle of providing highly skilled and effective certified service dogs to persons traumatized in the line of duty (PTLD) and whose quality of life depend on them. It is important to note that the 2018 federal budget included for the first time a provision to offer a tax credit to handlers of special- ly-trained psychiatric service dogs, as had long been the case for other types of service dogs, such as those that serve the blind, hearing im- paired or individuals with severe autism, epilepsy or diabetes. The tax credit will cover things like the cost of the dog itself, costs for its care and maintenance, including food and veterinary care, as well as some travel expenses incurred for a patient to attend a facility that trains patients in the handling of such animals. Mental health service dogs Continued from page 3