Therapists taking online course to support Canadian veterans and first responders
Global News
Nearly 800 health-care providers have accessed the online course since it was launched last May with financial support from the Atlas Institute.
It wasn’t until psychologist number three that retired warrant officer Brian McKenna was able to find someone who, in his words, “had a clue.”
McKenna, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan now living in Vancouver, had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had been trying unsuccessfully for years to find a mental-health professional who could understand and help him.
“A lot of the questioning coming out of the practitioner was more to the effect of: ‘Well, if you got blown up this day, why did you go back out next day?”’ he recalls of his first stab at finding assistance.
“They were approaching it from a shift workers’ point of view where you’ve got a union backing you up and all these health protocols that say what you can and cannot do. Rockets don’t care about that stuff. Neither do suicide bombers.”
McKenna’s experience speaks to what experts say is a problem that many veterans and first responders face when trying to find help for psychological injuries and illnesses: a lack of understanding about their unique challenges and needs.
“There are many veterans out there seeking mental-health care with a range of providers across Canada, and this is a recognized knowledge gap among many providers,” said MaryAnn Notarianni of the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families in Ottawa.
Many veterans, first responders and other trauma-exposed professionals already struggle to seek mental-health assistance. For example, some continue to worry about the potential impact on their careers, or even of being judged by their peers.
The concern is that if they do meet with a health-care professional and that person doesn’t understand where they are coming from, or how to help them, it will drive the veteran or first responder away.
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