B.C. Rotary club, veterans program to provide mental health support in Ukraine
A Metro Vancouver Rotary club and a program that helps veterans with the mental health impacts due to war are going to be taking their sense of service and their expertise to Ukraine.
The White Rock Rotary Club and the Veterans Transition Program at UBC are teaming up to provide mental health supports to Ukrainians. Today they signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the “Ukraine Trauma Support Initiative."
Tim Laidler, who is with the Institute for Veterans Education and Transition program, says whether its military or civilians, the impact is hard to ignore. Ukrainians have been under siege for nearly 500 days.
"The common denominator is the trauma and living in a high-stress environment on an ongoing basis. That's what our militaries have experienced. That's what I experienced myself in Afghanistan," Laidler explained.
In Ukraine, civilians are stepping up to join the military and the trauma is like a rolling wave. There may be a pause, but the conflict is ever-present.
"They're continually getting bombed. They're continually getting shelled. They don't know what's going to happen with power. There's all sorts of stress on them," said Laidler.
Veterans at the Rotary club also know about the impacts of war. With a focus on mental health supports this year, they're now teaming up with the UBC program to get veterans, counsellors and others on the ground to train up mental health staff in Ukraine. The UBC program has been around more than twenty years.
Bob Sutherland, is a former participant who says he knows what it feels like to be "always on the edge." He plans to travel to Ukraine and is helping the Rotary club with its fundraising efforts.
"I know firsthand, what generational trauma will do to families and if we can hit the first generation, it could nullify that impact,” Sutherland said, adding, "one of the main things was I learned to forgive myself.
Alan Plett, another veteran who plans to help, said after an adrenaline rush there might be a reprieve, but the stress inevitably comes back.
"Eventually the body wears out and there's more down than up," Plett added.
The hope is to give people the training so that when the war ends they can rebuild. That will include physical structures, and communities, as well as emotional healing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.