Nothing About Us Without Us

It was only five years ago that discussions about a Centre of Excellence were initiated. Major-General (ret.) Glynne Hines, Warrant Officer (ret.) Brian McKenna, and Patrick were invited by the Minister of Veterans Affairs to join an advisory group. This group, composed of Veterans and mental health professionals, were tasked with providing guidance and insight to the Minister about mental health issues affecting Veterans and their Families.

These issues were, and still are, familiar to many Veterans and their Families – health care providers who don’t fully understand or recognize the unique impacts that military service can have on the individual and on the Family. Symptoms of PTSD treated with vastly different approaches in different parts of the country. Wait times of months or even years to access support, and the transition from active duty proving to be complex and without sufficient guidance.

As the advisory group started their work, one particular goal for the Minister jumped out. The creation of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) “with a specialization in mental health, post-traumatic stress and related issues for both Veterans and First Responders” had been set as a priority by the federal government.

The advisory group knew that this was an opportunity to change the story for Veterans and their Families – it was a chance to create a new reality where Veterans and Families are understood and receive the tailored supports they need. The question that needed to be answered was “What is the best way of ensuring that their service to the country is recognized and honoured through the provision of effective and relevant health care, consistently no matter where they live?”

The answer? By bringing together those who understand the journey most intimately, those with lived personal expertise, to work alongside professionals to co-construct a plan to improve health care knowledge and services for Veterans and their Families.

And so began the journey leading to the creation of the Centre of Excellence.

It was Brian who said, “I remember it’s after the election and Walt Natyncyk calls a meeting with a few of us who had advocated for this centre. He was honest, and said something to the effect that they were committed, but didn’t know actually what we meant. What would it do, where would it be?”

Move along a few months and it is now late 2016. A subset of Veterans and mental health professionals from the Minister’s advisory group is working hard to define what the Centre could be. Glynne recalls, “We agreed that we needed to focus on ‘what’ the Centre would do and not on ‘how’ it would be done or where it would be physically located. While there was a high degree of confidence that the CoE would be established with or without our advice (after all, the Prime Minister had more or less directed it), the devil was going to be in the details. And these details were going to have to come from the Veteran community AND the mental health specialists alike.”