Survivors of mental health crises related to military service say help is available and it's crucial to seek it.
WATCH: Survivors of mental health crises related to military service say help is available and it's crucial to seek it. Justin Sibbet reports.One survivor is David Blackburn, a retired major who served in the Canadian Army. He says it took many years to realize the impact his service had on him.
“I broke down. It was April 28, 2016, I broke down on the side of Anthony Henday , driving home from work. I could not do it anymore. I was broke, I was psychologically broken.”For Blackburn, there was a stigma during his time of service where soldiers would not want to risk stepping up to say they weren’t OK. Others suffering in silence echo the same sentiment.“When I joined, you didn’t want to come forward.
“That environment has now changed so much that we encourage people to come forward. We put the support mechanisms in place,” said Miller.“We’re seeing more people come in the door and I don’t think that necessarily represents an increase in the number of mental health cases, but I think it represents and increase in the number of people wanting help.”Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs Canada says veterans in need of support should not be afraid to ask for help.
“It may take some time for the application to get processed. So, what we’ve done in the meantime is created the mental health benefit. So, this has been in place now since April of ’22. What that does is, while the veteran has applied, it gives them direct access, free access, to mental health treatments for a period of two years while they wait for their approved condition,” said Roy.“As a person who struggled through it, I know there’s a big leap of faith to seek that help.
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