My Damaged Suitcase – Life After Policing

On The Subject of Mental Health

Dear Association Members,

The Association continues to keep its finger on developments in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI) similarly referred to as Operational Stress Injury (OSI).  You will notice that in the community concerned with the treatment of these injuries that this condition is no longer referred to as a disorder but rather as an injury.

This change renders the perception of these conditions as treatable injuries rather than a potentially non-treatable disorder – giving persons receiving treatment a much brighter outlook for a positive outcome.

A retired member of the Winnipeg Police Service, Thane Chartrand has written a compelling article on his experiences following his retirement from the Service and his near brush with suicide.

As may be seen in the article, Thane has gradually moved from a dangerous depression to an individual aware of his injury and who is working on healing from the injury.

Also, please be aware that the Association website (www.rcmpva.org) does, under the Assistance menu item have lists of the Association Chaplains and Advocates.

Virtually all our Divisions have both Advocates and Chaplains who are more than willing to help both in counselling and in finding suitable assistance for you.

For John Steinbeck fans, this article has some flavour of “Travels with Charley”

The article may be read by clicking on the below button.

James Forrest
Director of Communications
RCMP Veterans’ Association