New Help for Veterans to Transition into Civilian Life

[Teager]

New help for Veterans to transition into civilian life
"Transitioning from military lifestyle to civilian lifestyle can be challenging at all levels."
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January 21, 2016 by: Chris Dawson
maureenkennedyveteran
Retired Chief Warrant Officer Maureen Kennedy speaks about the new program for Veterans. Photo by Chris Dawson.
North Bay will be the site of a new Veteran Family Pilot Program.

The initiative was launched this morning at the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence at CFB North Bay this morning. 

North Bay has been targeted as one of seven locations across the country to offer the program which is geared to support medically released military members and their families.   

“It brings a lot of hope to the military community and to veterans that we are now able to provide services for medically released members and their families,” said Veteran Family Local Coordinator Tina Thomason. 

“It’s going to provide a safety net, it’s going to provide navigation services, so there’s many processes involved in medically releasing from the military and also receiving services from Veterans Affairs. It can be confusing, it can be lengthy, so this program will help navigate those different systems as well as help connect people to civilian services.” 

Maureen Kennedy has had to make the transition from military to civilian herself. Kennedy is a board member with the Military Family Resource Centre in North Bay. 

From her experience, she believes the new services will definitely help ease that transition. 

“Transitioning from military lifestyle to civilian lifestyle can be challenging on all levels,” said Kennedy. 

“Navigating the different programs while adjusting to civilian life can be overwhelming for not only the veterans but their spouses, children, parents and other family members. 

The program is a partnership between the North Bay Military Family Resource Centre, Veterans Affairs Canada and Military Family Services. 

Officials at the event say the Veteran Family Program can be accessed through self-referral, medical or community referral. 

https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/new-help-for-veterans-to-transition-into-civilian-life-188413

 

[Teager]

Edmonton is also piloting this program.

 

[maniac]

That is a function of the IPSC(who are about to face some changes), now the MFRC is involved.  This should be good.

 

[Teager]

According to this article http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/brutally-honest-report-proves-canada-must-radically-change-how-it-treats-injured-vets-watchdog

Not a lot is about to change for the moment. IPSC are still greatly understaffed and can barely keep track of its personnel let alone help you transition properly. This service better helps the member and the family. Also I would rather have a vet or civilian who knows more about the other side and system than someone that's over worked and hasn't been through the process yet themselves.

 

[Steve_D]

The staff at IPSCs are constantly being painted in poor light, stating that they are not taking care of our ill & injured. The piece that no one seems to mention is that the staff are ONLY involved with the administrative process and zero to do with the medical side (be it physical or mental health). In fact, due to confidentiality, the staff are NOT even allowed to discuss anything medical. Specifically when it comes to those military members suffering from mental health issues, the staff at the IPSCs have their hands tied. This adds to the stress of the job and one of the causes of "burnout". I know for a fact that the staff at the IPSCs are some of the hardest working that I have ever some across and deserving of more kudos than they receive. Where is the statement questioning what the medical professionals are doing to identify and try to prevent the high suicide rate.  I know of many occasions where the IPSC staff have attempted to bring forth concerns on our members for harming themselves only to be told "that is medical and you are not to discuss medical. You are not a medically trained person. You don't know what you are talking about". Yet, whenever there is a member who takes their life, it is the JPSU/IPSC who gets the finger pointed at them.

The staffing issue is very, very real and needs to be fixed immediately. The percentage of staff who become "members" of the IPSCs due to mental health issues brought on strictly by the job is actually huge and those who don't, are usually the ones calling their career managers to say "get me the hell out of here! Post me now!"

I tip my hat to the staff who are doing the best they can with what they have. My only hope is that it get's fixed sooner rather than later.

Rant over.....

 

[CountDC]

Thank you Steve - couldn' agree more.  Working closely with the IPSC/JPSU I find that they are painted wrong.  Teager post reflects how they are often misunderstood:

"Also I would rather have a vet or civilian who knows more about the other side and system than someone that's over worked and hasn't been through the process yet themselves."

Every member of the IPSC I deal with are vets or serving members of the CF and many have gone through the process.  I can happily say one of the serving members working at the IPSC while going through the process recently returned to regular work.  The IPSC is a great resource out there and the biggest problem I see is that often they are not engaged early enough to safe members, instead being used by CO's too late to dump what they believe to be unsalvageable members.

 

[Teager]

I agree with Steve too. I also believe it depends on the IPSC your at. Some members have great experiences due to the staff others not so much.

I would like to point out that when the IPSC I was at first opened the Platoon WO was from the medical world and really cared about the troops. I'm not sure but maybe from what Steve brought up having some medical Sgts or WO work in those positions would tear down a lot of the road blocks. Although I know the medical field can be pretty stretched as it is.