HALIFAX – A Fall River MP praises a unit within the military that works with soldiers and their mental health issues but said more needs to be done to help them transition to civilian life.
MP Peter Stoffer, who is also the NDP Veterans Affairs Critic, said the Joint Personnel Support Unit (JPSU) is a good resource within the Canadian Armed Forces.
But he wonders whether the units are equipped to deal with demand.
“The question is whether there are enough of them. Whether they were financed properly and humanly resourced properly is another question,” Stoffer said.
The JPSU is a service for ill and injured service members, who are dealing with physical injuries, diseases like cancer and mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. The unit connects soldiers with services and benefits.
Lieutenant-Commander Flemming Rasmussen is the officer commander of the Halifax JPSU, which is currently treating 120 people right now.
But she admits she has lost several friends and co-workers to suicide.
“It’s devastating when one of us has gone,” she said.
“This is a new field for the military. We’ve never really discussed mental health as being the same as a broken leg.”
“Soldiers need to be fixed so we can move on.”
Rasmussen describes the unit as designed to support people who are taking longer in their recoveries and unable to work while recovering.
“It is extremely difficult to get people to be at the place where they can receive the treatment. We just try and remove as much of the external stressors and pressures … so they can be more relaxed, more able to approach their therapist and get that type of support,” he said.
Attention on military mental health is growing after a spate of suicides. Some families members have gone public saying mental health is being overlooked and members are being ignored.
“Is the JPSU a be all and end all to prevent suicides? The answer would be no,” Rasmussen said.
“Is it a needed piece of the toolkit? A tool in the toolkit to assist people who are dealing with quite significant mental health issues? I think the answer would be yes.”
However, Stoffer is also concerned about what happens when service members leave the JPSU.
“Once you become part of JPSU, you’re no longer deployable, which means you’re no longer employable, which means your exit strategy is you’re going to leave the military soon,” he said.
“Once you leave the military, you no longer have access to JPSU and therein lies the problem for many people who exit the military. You’re out into the civilian world where there may not be the support systems you’re looking for.”
Stoffer said he wants veterans to be able to access the services and resources of the JPSU.
“The government needs to ensure that these men and women should be able to stay within the military until they have the support system in the civilian world in order to assist them and their families. Right now, that doesn’t happen,” he said.
“In many, many cases, a person that served in the military for quite some time, that’s all they really know. The civilian world is quite different and trying to access doctors, psychologists and other people of that nature is quite challenging if you have to do it on your own.”
The Canadian Forces Member Assistance Program has a confidential 24/7 toll-free telephone advisory and referral service for all military personnel and their families: 1-800-268-7708.
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