Tara Collins is courageously coming forward with her family’s painful past.
“I think I blamed myself a lot when he was yelling and screaming,” Collins said of her husband in a web series called “Being There,” on the website Stories for Caregivers.
Collins’ husband suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), after serving in the military for 16 years.
In the process of caring for her husband, Collins was also diagnosed with PTSD.
Director Mike Lang collaborated with Joel Goundry and Evan Thies for one of three web series that feature caregivers, including Collins.
All three web series are intended to build a community for caregivers to help them understand they’re not alone.
“One of the first things we learned is how many people are active caregivers for their friends and families,” said Lang. “There’s over 8 million in Canada and that number is expected to double in the next 30 years.”
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Doctor Yvette Lu’s web series, called “House Call”, focuses on offering help. She discovered those who don’t realize they are caregivers tend not to reach out.
Collins is now earning her PhD on how families cope with military PTSD, the very topic that devastated her family, while at the same time, made them stronger.