Canadian veteran pens memoir to heal from PTSD

A newly published memoir called Brass & Unity is the story of one woman's service in Afghanistan. She wrote the book to deal with her own struggle with post traumatic stress.

A newly published memoir called Brass & Unity is the story of one woman’s service in Afghanistan. She wrote the book to deal with her own struggle with post traumatic stress.

Five years after first starting, Canadian veteran Kelsi Sheren finally has her story out in print.

“For me, writing was more of a release than an intention to write a book or a movie or whatever. It was how do I help myself?” she told Global’s This is BC.

Deployed to Afghanistan as a 19-year-old artillery gunner, Sheren’s experiences on the front lines left her with a brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Once we went in to do body retrieval during the firefight I felt the light switch turn off in my brain,” Sheren said.

“I no longer felt emotion. No longer had patience or compassion. It was straight anger.”

Sheren has since become an advocate working to ensure men and women in uniform get the help they need, encouraged by the efforts of some not-for profit organizations.

“We can’t just keep telling our veterans do X-Y-Z and expecting a different result. We see what’s happening and we know that it’s not working,” Sheren said.