New announcement: **OSI Ottawa - PARTICIPANTS NEEDED - Research Study INSOMNIA**

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
For Research Study

Many veterans experience sleep difficulties. Often, these difficulties start during military service and can be part of another diagnosis, like PTSD. However, sleep habits often develop that contribute to maintaining insomnia.

The purpose of this study is to compare two different methods to treat symptoms of insomnia among veterans with PTSD. Should you decide to participate in this study, you will be assigned on a random basis (i.e. flip of a coin) to:

a) A CBT for Insomnia group (CBTi); or
b) A Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction group (MBSR).

Both groups will run weekly at the Royal Ottawa OSI Clinic for a total of 8 weeks. You will be asked to complete a number of questionnaires about your symptoms of insomnia and other symptoms known to impact sleep (e.g. pain, anxiety) prior to the group, after completing the group, and at a 6-month follow-up. You will also be asked to complete sleep logs and, if applicable, meditation logs, and to wear an actiwatch 24 hours per day for one week prior to the group, for the duration of the group and for one week prior to the 6-month follow-up. The actiwatch is a device used to measure your level of physical activity, in order to provide objective measures of your sleep-wake cycle. The actiwatch is as small as a regular watch and is waterproof.

If interested, you will require a referral to the Royal Ottawa OSI Clinic through VAC and would become a client of the OSI Clinic for the duration of the study. There are several eligibility criteria that must be met in order to participate. For instance, you will be asked to temporarily stop any other individual or group therapy during the study (8 weeks) in order to ensure that the expected improvements in sleep are solely the result of the study group.

If you are interested in finding out more information about the study and eligibility criteria, or in participating, please contact the research coordinator (Erika Jansman-Hart) or research assistant (Kelly Christie), by phone or email.

Principal Investigator: Research Coordinator: Research Assistant:
Dr. Anik Gosselin Erika Jansman-Hart Kelly Christie
Ph: (613) 722-6521 x6292 Ph: (613) 722-6521 x6291 Ph: (613) 722-6521 x6782
anik.gosselin@theroyal.ca erika.jansman-hart@theroyal.ca kelly.christie@theroyal.ca

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

Canadian Veterans Advocacy Situation Report - BUDGET 2013 - Last Post Burial Fund.

CVA supporters will recall the dedicated effort the CVA executive put forth while in Ottawa and Trenton during Remembrance Week 2012 and I am pleased to note that this years budget addresses this issue by increasing the dispensation to 7400 dollars. Naturally, the Advocacy was not alone and I would take this opportunity to convey CVA compliments to Gordon Moore, Dominion President, Royal Canadian Legion and his team for their pro-active posture on this issue. We also acknowledge the consistent efforts of Peter Stoffer, NDP Veterans critic, Sean Casey, Liberal veterans critic and to Minister of Veterans Affairs Steven Blaney for listening to our collective voices and seeking resolutions, at least on the financial level, through this years budget.
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy, however, continues to bear serious concerns about the Last Post Fund's restrictive criteria, particularly in the sense of exclusion of deceased veterans who did not serve in WW2 and Korea yet who's families require financial assistance for a dignified internment. We are gravely concerned about the current Means Test and the formula responsible for the denial of two thirds of applicants and will continue to address this situation until we have resolved these outstanding issues through dialogue and engagement.
One Veteran - One Standard.
CVA Refresher - Last Post Burial Fund Operations - Remembrance Week 2012. Bear in mind that many reports are published nation wide through syndication and that over this period, our message was delivered to the government and the Canadian public by newspaper, radio, television and the Internet medium, platforms that provided awareness to millions of Canadians. Here is but a small sample.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/pm-says-veterans-programs-under-review-amid-controversy-over-funeral-fund-1.1033138
http://video.theloop.ca/watch/funeral-funds-for-veterans/1960817512001#.UUtlCFc40ZE
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pressure-mounts-over-funeral-fund-rejections-for-poor-veterans-1.1025199
http://www.citynews.ca/2012/11/06/burial-fund-for-poor-veterans-rejects-two-thirds-of-applications/
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/canada/163030-blaney-defends-veterans-burial-fund

Pro Patria Semper Fidelis

Michael L Blais CD
Founder/President, Canadian Veterans Advocacy
6618 Harper Drive, Niagara Falls, Ont, Cda.
L2E 7K6 // 905-357-3306 // Cell 905-359-9247


Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

http://canadianveteransadvocacy.com/Board2/index.php

New announcement: We Stopped for the Dead — What About Our Wounded?

We Stopped for the Dead — What About Our Wounded?

Thane Burnett - March 18th, 2013

OSHAWA, Ont. — The Captain says we need to step back. Regroup. Rethink this strategy that he believes is leaving our wounded worse off than they were before.

Or at least — as a nation — fully understand there's a battle still going on.

I'm sitting in a messy officers mess inside the Oshawa Armoury — leather chairs and wooded tables pushed against armed forces Bric-à-brac. Clutter among great military order.

Captain Wayne Johnston, founder of Canada's Wounded Warriors (WoundedWarriors.ca) charity project, is leaning forward in one of those old chairs and offering up an opinion about Canada's greatest year, even before I ask the question.

We are not so far from the Highways of Heroes, the route used to repatriate the bodies of our fallen soldiers from Afghanistan. During each of those sad days, Hwy. 401 was lined with Canadians — hats off, hands over hearts or offering a salute to a soldier who died in our country's name. Though you likely know all that.

The man seated in front of me is every bit the soldier. The kind of man I saw often during time with our troops in Afghanistan. Canadian swagger. With his handle bar mustache and no nonsense demeanor, Johnston talks about Canadians soldiers and vets as if he's speaking about his brothers and sisters.

Which is how he wishes Canadian politicians would see them.

Johnston answers the unasked question — our most poignant moment as a nation came in 1917, he's sure.

That was the year of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, when Canada stormed from the shadows of our British parents to define their country. During that victory — with more than 10,000 killed or wounded — we also proved ourselves a brave force to be reckoned with.

"Vimy is woven into the fabric of our nation," he points out, believing the Highway of Heroes will be remembered in the same way.

But now, for a year where we seemed to have forgotten ourselves as Canadians. He says that would be 2006, when politicians of all political stripes supported dramatic changes to veteran compensation with the New Veterans Charter. The bulk payouts are now the focus of a lawsuit by injured soldiers.

"Can you imagine we've reached a point where soldiers are having to sue their government," says Johnston, before we get up and move into the armoury for photos.

Since 2006, the country has regressed in a commitment to vets that goes back to our 8th Prime Minister, Robert Borden, says the soldier, who was inspired and scarred by his duties as an assisting officer assigned to severely wounded Canadian soldiers sent from Afghanistan to Germany.

He started The Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warriors Fund, in part, because in that German hospital, he saw American soldiers given comfort from their country that the Canadians lacked. It including simple things like USA throw-blankets that the Canadians would inherit and be wrapped in.

"My soul has been torn," Johnston says of his own struggles.

When it comes to the changes to compensation and long-term support for vets — especially young wounded soldiers with a life-time of physical, psychological and emotional burden ahead — Johnston has a wish for Canadian politicians.

"That they look in the mirror and and ask 'what if it were them or their sons or daughters?" he recommends.

And for his fellow Canadians, he wishes they wouldn't be distracted by the "white noise" of politicians arguing that they are giving a great deal to vets and that this is all about where a decimal point falls.

He wants us, as we did along the highway for our dead, to stop what we're doing to understand the loss and sacrifice of our injured and hurting.

And how our plan for doing them right has been wronged. How it was better before. How we were better before.

And that we have to demand a moment to redraw the lines on how we got to a point where we seem to be leaving our wounded behind.

http://blogs.canoe.ca/retrocanada/canadian-military/we-stopped-for-the-dead-what-about-our-wounded/

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Army warns doctors against using certain drugs in PTSD treatment

Army warns doctors against using certain drugs in PTSD treatment

US News but applicable to us....

By Bob Brewin April 25, 2012



The Army Surgeon General's office is backing away from its long-standing endorsement of prescribing troops multiple highly addictive psychotropic drugs for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and early this month warned regional medical commanders against using tranquilizers such as Xanax and Valium to treat PTSD.

An April 10 policy memo that the Army Medical Command released regarding the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD said a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which include Xanax and Valium, could intensify rather than reduce combat stress symptoms and lead to addiction.

The memo, signed by Herbert Coley, civilian chief of staff of the Army Medical Command, also cautioned service clinicians against prescribing second-generation antipsychotic drugs, such as Seroquel and Risperidone, to combat PTSD. The drugs originally were developed to treat severe mental conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The memo questioned the efficacy of this drug class in PTSD treatment and cautioned against their use due to potential long-term health effects, which include heart disorders, muscle spasms and weight gain.

Throughout more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the military services have relied heavily on prescription drugs to help troops deal with their mental health problems during and after deployment. In a June 2010 report, the Defense Department's Pharmacoeconomic Center said 213,972, or 20 percent of the 1.1 million active-duty troops surveyed, were taking some form of psychotropic drug -- antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedative hypnotics or other controlled substances.

The Army, in a July 2010 report on suicide prevention, said one-third of all active-duty military suicides involved prescription drugs.

Mental health experts say the military's prescription drug problem is exacerbated by a U.S. Central Command policy that dates to October 2001 and provides deploying troops with up to a 180-day supply of prescription drugs under its Central Nervous System formulary.

That formulary includes Xanax, Valium and three other benzodiazepines to treat anxiety: Ativan, Klonopin and Restoril.


Broken Warriors is an ongoing series on mental health issues in the military.

The Army's new PTSD policy makes it clear that the risk of treating combat stress with benzodiazepines outweighs the rewards: "Benzodiazepine use should be considered relatively contraindicated in combat veterans with PTSD because of the high co-morbidity of combat-related PTSD with alcohol misuse and substance use disorders (up to 50 percent co-morbidity) and potential problems with tolerance and dependence."

After becoming dependent on these drugs, soldiers face enormous problems when they try to discontinue their use, the report said. "Once initiated in combat veterans, benzodiazepines can be very difficult, if not impossible to discontinue, due to significant withdrawal symptoms compounded by underlying PTSD symptoms," the document said.

The Army policy memo highlighting problems with benzodiazepines for PTSD treatment dovetails with a study published in the April issue of Current Psychiatry Online by Jolene Bostwick, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy.

Bostwick wrote "benzodiazepine administration fails to prevent PTSD and may increase its incidence." She added, "use of benzodiazepines for PTSD is associated with withdrawal symptoms, more severe symptoms after discontinuation and possible disinhibition, and may interfere with patients' efforts to integrate trauma experiences."

Army clinicians who prescribe Risperidone, Seroquel and other second-generation antipsychotic drugs "must clearly document their rationale concluding that the potential benefits outweigh the known risks and that informed consent has been conducted," the policy memo said.

Seroquel has been implicated in the deaths of combat veterans and the Veterans Affairs Department reported in August 2011 that Risperidone was no more effective in PTSD treatment than a placebo. VA spent $717 million on the drug over the past decade. The military has spent $74 million over the past 10 years on Risperidone, a spokeswoman for the Defense Logistics Agency said.

An Army doctor who declined to be identified told Nextgov "these long-overdue policy changes are welcome, but they will further shift the mental health care of soldiers to an already overstressed VA and will result in the separation of many mentally stressed volunteers, who just months earlier had been counseled to steel themselves for a career of perpetual deployment and had been willing to sacrifice the best years of their lives to do so."

This long-serving Army clinician said, "the nation needs to take a long, hard look at what delayed the institution of these policies, and why the priorities of our Army medical leaders have too often favored the manpower needs of the Army rather than the mental health of its soldiers."

Dr. Grace Jackson, a former Navy psychiatrist who resigned her commission in 2002 "because I did not want to be a pill pusher" said the new Army policy shows "they are finally admitting to some problems associated with at least one class of psychiatric medication." But, Jackson said, the Army policy does not address problems with other classes of prescription drugs, including antidepressants and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, in the treatment of PTSD. Clinical studies, Jackson said, have shown these drugs to be no better than placebos -- but far more dangerous in the treatment of PTSD.

The Army also has ignored the role antipsychotic drugs play in the "sudden deaths" of troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury due to undiagnosed endocrine abnormalities Jackson said.

The use of antipsychotic drugs to treat troops with TBI can cause changes in growth and thyroid hormones, which can in turn trigger a variety of cardiac-related events that could result in sudden deaths, Jackson said.

Though the Army has adopted a new policy on the use of benzodiazepines, Jackson said the Defense Department overall is still wedded to a policy of using drugs to treat metal problems even when scientific evidence "demonstrates poor risk-benefit ratios."

The Army policy memo encouraged clinicians to look beyond drugs to treat PTSD and suggested a range of alternative therapies, including yoga, biofeedback, acupuncture and massage.

http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2012/04/broken-warriors-test/55389/

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Unique Canadian program to train police to deal with psychiatric situations

Unique Canadian program to train police to deal with psychiatric situations promising, study finds

By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News March 18, 2013

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/8115436.bin

A unique police training program that uses actors to portray people with a variety of psychiatric disorders shows promise in teaching officers to deal more effectively with those with mental illness, according to a new study.

The findings released Monday by University of Alberta researchers comes at a time when other studies have shown that those with psychiatric disorders are disproportionately represented in arrest data and as police forces have come under scrutiny for violent — and sometimes fatal — confrontations with them.

"We all hear tragic situations in which sometimes perhaps a greater understanding of mental illness would've been helpful," said Peter Silverstone, a psychiatrist in the university's faculty of medicine and dentistry and lead investigator of the study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.

More than 600 officers from the Edmonton Police Service took part in the study, which had each of them interact with actors in six scenarios. The scenarios included having officers respond to a depressed and belligerent person who was near a weapon, a psychotic individual experiencing hallucinations, and an excited individual behaving strangely on a public street.

Following each session, officers received feedback from supervising officers, psychologists and the actors on everything from their stance to their tone to how well they showed empathy. For instance, did they share their name with the actor, look the actor in the eyes or attempt to build rapport by mirroring the actor's body movements?

"If you can give them the skills to increase the perceived empathy, that's very important," Silverstone said. "We all want to feel that somebody understands us at a fundamental level."

In a follow-up survey six months later, supervising officers reported improvements in officers' abilities to "verbally de-escalate" situations and to show empathy when dealing people with psychiatric disorders, according to the study.

The average number of mental health calls also went up, the study reported.

"The data from the study suggests that after they went through training, they were much more clear and much better able to identify when mental health scenarios occurred. And they identified them much more frequently," Silverstone said.

There was also a marked decrease in the use of force against individuals with psychiatric disorders, though the researchers noted that Edmonton police had introduced other initiatives around the same time as the study to reduce the use of force in all circumstances.

While most officers thought the training was beneficial, there were some negative comments, Silverstone wrote in a related paper.

"None of the tools provided to me have worked," one officer said. Another questioned why the actors were being asked for their feedback.

"A schizophrenic would not likely think or feel in any way similar to what the actors 'felt' and this somewhat made the scenarios unrealistic," the officer stated.

Studies in Canada and Britain have found that 37 to 48 per cent of people fatally shot by police had underlying mental health issues, the researchers reported.

A 2012 study sponsored by the Mental Health Commission of Canada found that about 40 per cent of people with psychiatric disorders had been arrested in their lifetimes, and that people with mental illness were over-represented in police-related shootings, Taser incidents and fatalities.

The same study also found that people with mental illness tended to hold more negative views toward police than the general public.

Despite these findings, current mental health training for police officers "varies widely" across Canada, the Alberta researchers said. Some officers only get training during recruitment; others have been enrolled in classroom or online courses. The effectiveness of programs has not been rigorously tested.

One recent trend has been the creation of mobile crisis response teams — staffed by mental health professionals — that police can call upon if they need help dealing with someone who has a mental illness.

In the past, officers spent a lot of time doing "street triage" on people with mental health problems or escorting them to hospital, said Brad Duncan, police chief in London, Ont., which has such a team.

"There is a level of frustration when you know an individual needs assistance but we don't have the ability to do much more than make sure they're OK, that they won't harm themselves," he said.

Now, with the creation of crisis response teams, these individuals get better care, which frees up officers to handle other calls, Duncan said.

Ottawa police are experimenting with teaming up psychiatrists with patrol officers as part of a yearlong pilot project.

There is now "clear recognition" among police forces of the need to develop closer relationships with those who have the expertise, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

"Police cannot address this issue on their own."

dquan(at)postmedia.com

Twitter.com/dougquan
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Unique+Canadian+program+train+police+deal+with+psychiatric+situations+promising+study+finds/8115435/story.html

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Veteran Transition Program NS

The Veterans Transition Program (VTP) is a group- based residential program where soldiers help soldiers transition to civilian life, offered by the Veterans Transition Network (VTN). The program is made possible through a partnership between the University of British Columbia, True Patriot Love and the Nova Scotia / Nunavut Command of the Royal Canadian Legion.

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: PTSD FORUM with Dr. Dee Rajska - Fight-or-Flight reflex, Anger

PTSD FORUM with Dr. Dee Rajska - Fight-or-Flight reflex, Anger

Hi again, folks!

Thanks so much for coming back!

(I would promise to make the jokes less corny this week, but I hate making promises I can't keep)…

As I was saying last week, (I'm repeating myself, but this was my best line so I want to use it again in case you missed it), dealing with PTSD on your own is like trying to fight a war all by yourself, against an enemy you've never been trained to fight.

(Good line, right? Aren't you glad I brought it back for an encore?)

You need to have buddies fighting alongside you, which is why last week I did the used-car-salesman thing about peer support. You also need to KNOW YOUR ENEMY. So, today, I'd like to start giving you the intel you need to kick PTSD's… ahem, *six*.

According to the DSM-IV TR, the diagnostic criteria for PTSD are as follows:

to Continue reading the article, please visit: http://homecomingvets.com/2013/03/19/ptsd-forum-with-dr-dee-rajska/

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.