Hélène Le Scelleur, Veteran
Photo Credit: Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans
Esprit de Corps Magazine September 2023 // Volume 30 Issue 8
Let's Talk About Women in the Military – Column 54
By Military Woman
Question:
What else has been happening at the “Experience of Women Veterans” study?
Answer:
Glad you asked!
The Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) held its ninth meeting on the “Experience of Women Veterans” on May 18, 2023. There were five witnesses – two civilian mental health clinicians and three Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans (CPCoE) representatives, including Veteran Hélène Le Scelleur. Since her release from the military, Hélène has become both a CPCoE funded postgraduate researcher and a co-chair for their Advisory Council for Veterans.
In case you are not already aware, Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) established the not-for-profit CPCoE in 2020. According to the CPCoE’s 2022-2023 Annual Report it spends around 70% of its $4.5 million budget on research and 30% on overhead. The need for the Centre is obvious with 50% of women Veterans and 40% of men Veterans suffering from chronic pain (compared to 20% of non-Veterans).
Hélène’s testimony included experiences from her personal military journey that were not always easy for the audience to listen to. However, many of her examples will undoubtably resonate deeply with other women Veterans as shared in common experiences.
Hélène spoke of having to work “harder than any man just to be treated as their equal.” She also spoke about the institutional expectations to “accept boots that were too big” and “equipment that was inadequate” for her size and then suffer “in silence in order to perform.” She also spoke about feeling it necessary to shed her “femininity to make room for the identity of being a soldier.” All the while, considering herself “lucky I am not one of those who was raped.” She summarized with the observation that “it is impossible to address chronic pain without exploring the underlying suffering that is experienced in a career as a woman in the forces.”
Current medical thinking is that stress and other mental health related challenges can, and do, cause physical health problems and vice versa. The CPCoE’s medical director describes the relationship between a Veteran’s physical and mental health as being “two sides of the same coin.” This framework helps to explain why most Veterans with chronic pain also have mental health challenges and vice versa.
Thanks to the ever-growing understanding of the clinical inter-relationship between the body, mind, and spirit, a “bio-psycho-social” model of care is now considered best practice for supporting Veterans. Holistic, wraparound, integrated, multi-disciplinary team care is accepted as the best approach to optimize Veteran wellbeing.
Other important recommendations made by the witnesses at this ACVA meeting included enabling more Veteran:
psycho-social transition supports.
Tools to help re-define one’s identity when no longer a “soldier.”
Healthy social and peer support systems for women Veterans.
Barrier-free access to supports for psychological distress (no medical diagnosis required).
federally funded research.
Mandate the collection and reporting of sex and gender.
Mandate collaboration with lived experience Veterans throughout projects resulting in the Veteran as co-author on any publications.
Support more research on francophone Veterans.
Determine if women, especially those voicing complaints against the institution, are mis- and over-diagnosed as having personality disorders versus PTSD.
Identify and share best practices for Veteran support and care.
recognition.
Improve Canadians’ knowledge of women Veterans.
Offer a “Vétérane” version of Quebec’s Veteran license plates.
VAC data and policy transparency.
Determine if women are declined claims, and other support requests, at a higher rate than men and if so, why.
Make VAC’s sex and gender-based analysis of their disability benefits adjudication research available to the public.
Require all Lifemark-Partners in Canadian Veterans Rehabilitation Services (PCVRS) contract providers to have meaningful military cultural training that includes women Veteran specific topics.
To review the highlights from the earlier ACVA meetings, please go to Esprit de Corps Vol 30 Issues 4, 5 , 6 and 7.
If you, or anyone you know, wants to input into this “Experience of Women Veterans” study, please contact the Committee’s Clerk at ACVA@parl.gc.ca or 613-995-4915.
