NYAPRS Note: Veterans in Toronto arranged an emergency peer-run warm line to cope with a sudden string of PTSD-related suicides. Innovative models like this are helpful when sudden needs present because they are flexible and relatively inexpensive, and can show initiative to prompt other needed service reforms such as mobile crisis units and peer outreach and engagement.
Military Veterans Set Up Hotline to Help Colleagues in Distress
Toronto Sun; Chris Doucette, 1/11/14
TORONTO – A wave of suicides, called “a national tragedy” by a Toronto-area member of Parliament, has prompted a group of veterans to set up a new hotline to help fellow soldiers in crisis.
The vets launched the toll-free help line, 1-855-373-8387, Thursday to provide a support system for current and former military personnel battling post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries.
“Once again, our veterans are stepping up to the plate,” MP Jim Karygiannis, Liberal Veterans Affairs Critic, said Saturday. “They are volunteering to answer telephone calls from their brothers-and-sisters-in-arms who are in crisis.”
The MP for Scarborough-Agincourt helped the group of veterans establish the crisis line independent of the military.
“Losing one soldier or veteran to suicide is one too many,” Karygiannis said. “Losing seven within two months is a national tragedy.”
The seven suicides since the middle of November are all thought to be PTSD-related.
“Soldiers and veterans who are suffering from PTSD and other operational stress injuries are carrying a dreadful burden,” Karygiannis said. “All of us must work to remove the sigma of PTSD and other mental health issues.”
Many military personnel have complained about the lack of help for PTSD, some even claim to have been punished for going public with mental health problems.
The new crisis line is staffed by veterans 24 hours a day and callers can remain anonymous.
There is also a social media effort, started by two vets of Afghanistan, that enables soldiers to help each other.
The Facebook campaign is dubbed Send Up The Count.
Late last year, four Canadian soldiers committed suicide within a week.
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Despite the string of suicides, Canada’s Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs have been slow to respond.
Last month, the military pledged to improve care for soldiers by adding 57 new mental health professionals. But only three have reportedly been hired so far.