“The backbone of our organization is to try to eradicate stigma within the Canadian forces in regards to mental health injuries,” Lively said. “We’re taking those negative experiences and reusing them in a positive way to educate our peers and colleagues.”
Returning from Front Lines: The Stigma of Mental Illness
By Cindy Chan
Epoch Times Staff
OTTAWA—Three months after Steven Lively returned from central Africa in 1996, the former Canadian forces soldier started experiencing constant panic attacks, migraines, and anxiety.
It was two years following the Rwandan genocide. He was in Africa to observe the survivors who had fled to neighboring countries and were trying to return to Rwanda.
“It was a feeling of complete helplessness,” he said. “You come home from a mission and before you know it you’re overcome with a very strong sense of guilt.”
He encountered mass graves and other horrors of human suffering, including children and babies dying.
Yet, due to the military’s rules of engagement to guard the soldiers’ safety, “There was absolutely nothing that I could do. I was unable to stop and provide any kind of assistance.”
The resulting guilt manifested as depression, anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks, along with other severe symptoms that included headaches, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome.
“I didn’t understand all these things that were part of post-traumatic stress disorder that we now know. Back then, I had no idea what was happening to me,” said Lively, who now works with the Joint Speakers Bureau (JSB) of the Department of National Defence (DND) to provide education and awareness on mental health and operational stress injury (OSI).
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http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/31006/
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