www.V-EH.ca

Andrew Gough is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, serving reservist and police officer. In 2019, he took part in a campaign within his police service that challenged the stigma of mental health challenges. The ‘Stronger than you know’ campaign shared his and others' stories of mental health struggles to combat the idea that these challenges are a sign of weakness. Through his experiences, he learned that asking for help is a sign of true strength.

He received the Sacrifice Medal for injuries sustained by hostile action/act of terrorism while deployed in Tripoli, Libya during Operation LOBE in 2014. These injuries, along with a career of being exposed to and involved in dangerous and traumatic situations, let to his diagnosis of PTSD in 2015.

He is also a mental health advocate and was named the 2019 Canadian Mental Health Association Middlesex “Champion of Mental Health” for his work and openness to share his story of injury and recovery as an emergency services member.

​Mr. Gough remains an active member of the Canadian Armed Forces as a Platoon Commander and holds the rank of Sergeant as a police officer.

Veterans and Everyday Heroes was born out of need. A police officer, diagnosed with an Operational Stress Injury (OSI) needed a service dog to help him with daily living and couldn’t afford the $20,000+ cost.

Andrew Gough decided to help because he knows first-hand the incredible impact of a service dog to someone living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Simply put, his service dog, Riggs, saved his life.

With wife, Elizabeth, Riggs and a team of volunteers at his side, Andrew organized his first ‘Comedy: It’s for the dogs’ event in London, ON in 2019, and raised more than $14,000 towards the purchase of a service dog for a fellow officer in need.

And V-EH! was born. It aims to help veterans and everyday heroes – all front-line responders – live better lives with the support needed to manage mental health challenges or with acts of kindness that promote wellness.

ALL proceeds from fundraising raised go directly to supporting veterans and first responder improve their lives and ease the struggle toward wellness.

Examples of assistance provided includes:

Join us in supporting the everyday heroes in our community by contributing, participating in one of our online auctions, buying our swag or attending an event.

www.campaftermath.org 

Camp Aftermath seeks to support military members, veterans, first responders and Fronline Workers living with PTSD or experiencing mental health problems as a consequence of their duties in public safety roles.

Camp Aftermath is a one-year, three-phase program which includes a screening process in Phase 1, a 6-8 day volunteering and therapeutical activities itinerary in Phase 2, and a one-year follow-up in Phase 3. With mental health experts oversight, this program will aim provide participants with long-term management of OSI/PTSD through volunteerism and the development of positive habits.

The main focus of the Camp Aftermath program is for participants achieve a sense of self-realization, with hope for a brighter and healthier future. The one-year follow up is aimed to ensure participants are not only held accountable to themselves but to the group as well. This will be achieved through weekly “check-ins” with mental health experts’ oversight.

Camp Aftermath is the current project of the Ottawa-based Aftermath Association, a Canadian registered charity, with membership open to anyone who shares its goals and ideals. Future projects will also aim to respond to human need with human care.

The story of Camp Aftermath begins with our founder, Farid Yaghini, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Despite experiencing traumatic events while serving overseas, Farid did not develop post-traumatic stress disorder like many of his fellow service men and women. Mental health professionals concluded that his philanthropic deeds overseas helped him after witnessing disturbing events during active service. These were his “positive anchors” during difficult moments.

This realization evolved into a question: what if people living with PTSD could be assisted with cultivating “positive anchors” to replace the memory of negative experiences?

This question led to an idea and concept of the one-year, three-phase program called Camp Aftermath, where military members, veterans and first responders living with PTSD  or experiencing mental health problems as a consequence of their duties in public safety roles could go to begin a journey of self-realization, primarily through volunteerism, combined with therapeutic activities.

A plan gradually began to take shape, and in December 2016, Farid and his close friends registered the Aftermath Association as a Canadian charity dedicated to eliminating mental and spiritual anguish by responding to human need with human care.

1.  Both Minister Lawrence MacAuley & Prime Minister Justin Trudeau KNEW that this Veteran was offered medically assisted suicide by a Veterans Affairs Service Agent in July 2021.  

2. Both of them ignored the fact that Veterans were being offered assisted suicide until the story broke more than a year later in August of 2022. 

3. Both have stated firmly, as has Paul Ledwell, that there was only ONE Veterans Affairs Case Manager who was offering MAID.

4. Christines story proves that there were at least 3 different case workers from Veterans Affairs who offered MAID. 

5. I'm working on yet ANOTHER Veteran, who can prove there is a 4th case worker who is offering MAID. 

Conclusion:  MAID was officially offered by Veterans Affairs Canada

6. Christine's heart wrenching story shows the complete failure of Veterans Affairs Canada to service our Veterans. She has spend the last 5 years dragging herself, and her wheelchair up and down 8 stairs in order to get to her vehicle.  Through rain and snow, in all weather, she has suffered because VAC has not found a way to build her the chair escalator she needs. 

The proof is coming forward very quickly.  I know, and you know that offering Medically Assisted In Dying was not an isolated incident.  You KNOW that it was official policy. 

Your bosses told you to offer MAID.  You just did what you were told.  Don't let them throw you under the bus.  Counselling MAID can get you up to 15 years in jail.  Don't let your bosses put you at this type of risk. 

Come forward now.  You can remain anonymous if you like.  Come forward to me, to the RCMP, or to Blake Richards who is the shadow minister of Veterans Affairs.   Or, ...just do a Facebook LIVE and tell your story.   However you want to come forward, ...just do it.  You have the courage.  Do the right thing. 

If you want me to keep your name private, I will.  Just reach out. 

How to transform yourself into the person you wish to be

I’ve heard people use the excuse, “I just don’t have the drive that those other people have”.  What they didn’t understand is that it’s not an internal energy source called “drive” that gets people out of bed in the morning.  It’s not a rare commodity that some people have, and others do not, which has people putting in the extra effort. What people perceive as “drive” is actually something that EVERYBODY has access to.  It’s not drive, …it’s just a decision.

Let’s use fitness as an example.

Being active does not require “drive”, it requires a decision.  Here is how the process works.

Start with the simple things like making your bed..every single day.  This is an act of self respect. Nobody sees it but you…and you do it JUST for YOU.  This is a symbol of self respect that you can build on.

Exercise for 15 minutes a day

Spend 5-15 minutes a day to Learn a new language with a free app on your phone.  I’m now over 700 days in a row, and once I learn French, I’ll keep learning new languages, every day, for the rest of my life.  This is an act of self respect.

I also stay sober every single day.  This is an act of self respect that I’ve been doing for over 2.5 years now.

We now have confirmation, that as early as November 2021 MAID was offered to an Active Serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces. 

"Bruce" was asking for help with military transition, and PTSD.  The VAC service agent pushed Medically Assisted Dying to him...and pushed the issue. 

This is a crime. 

They are trying to cover it up. 

If you know of anyone else, or if this has happened to you, please let me know.  Your voice matters.  We need as many to come forward as possible. 

Would you like to win a copy of Trish's book?  She is the author of "What was asked of us".  This book has been hailed by critics as being a game changing book on the Iraq war.  If you'd like to enter to win, just share this episode, tag me, or the show's Facebook page in the post, and encourage others to share it as well. 

I'll choose whoever looks like they have the most comments and shares, and I'll have Trish send you a copy direct from Amazon. 

Visit Trish's website, and listen to her show here: https://www.trishwoodpodcast.com/  Or find "Trish Wood Is Critical" on any major podcast platform.  Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Apple Music, etc. 

About Trish:

Award-winning investigative journalist and interviewer Trish Wood has been blowing up conventional wisdom for decades. A television and radio trailblazer, she’s renowned for chasing organized crime bosses through Tokyo, exposing crooked religious cranks, dodging drunken teens with guns at checkpoints in war-torn Burundi, and setting free innocent men. Trish’s intrepid reporting landed exclusive guests and won her fans, accolades and occasionally, critics.

Now, she is bringing to a podcast her electric interviewing style, hard-won wisdom and wicked humour, crushing agenda-driven overload with critical thinking. Trish’s deep empathy for the downtrodden but fearless questioning of the powerful creates profound moments. Neither left nor right of center — she is a Libertarian in her head but a champion of the working class in her heart —  she can’t be pigeonholed and refuses to see the world through the lens of manufactured talking points and toxic dogma.  

Her latest project, a critically acclaimed, five-part documentary series for Amazon Studios deep-dives into a female take on the Ted Bundy murders. It’s a game changer in true-crime storytelling. Bundy’s long-time girlfriend stepped out of the shadows, as did Bundy’s brother, Richard, and many others who’d never told their stories.

For nearly 10 years she was one of the hosts for the Emmy Award-winning investigative current affairs series, The Fifth Estate, spending years on the road,  outworking, outthinking and during long nights away, outdrinking the men in her world. It was a formula for success — until it wasn’t. Drinking exploded her life, so she committed to recovery, focussed on parenting her two boys as a single mother, and came back stronger than ever.

In 2006 she published What Was Asked of Us (Little, Brown) —heartbreaking testimonies from Iraq War soldiers. It was praised by critics including from The New York Times and People Magazine. The San Francisco Chronicle called it “the only book about the war that matters” and the soldier’s stories changed the conversation about the conflict. It’s available on Amazon.

She went on to create I Didn’t Do It, believed to be the first-ever wrongful conviction series. It investigated the cases of men like Dewey Bozella and Alton Logan who were imprisoned for murders they didn’t commit. Trish was a pioneer during the recent renaissance of true-crime storytelling, developing and producing a number of successful titles.

Now she’s embracing the rowdy, free-for-all world of podcasting and the chance to tell the world what she really thinks. Oh, and basketball.

Karen Margaret Braun-Prince, Daughter of Tommy Prince

Thomas George Prince

MM

(October 25, 1915 – November 25,1977) was an Indigenous Canadian war hero and Canada's most decorated

First Nations soldier, serving in World War II and the Korean War He was the most decorated soldier in the First Special Service Force or Devil's Brigade during World War II.

Tommy Prince was descended from First Nations chiefs who had negotiated treaty rights with Crown representatives, and Prince himself would also represent First Nations concerns in Ottawa as Chairman of the Manitoba Indian Association. He advocated for the abolition of the governing

Indian Act in Canada and proposed respect for the traditional Crown treaties as the basis of First Nations rights. Prince's position, although deemed radical at the time, has been supported in subsequent decades by Supreme Court of Canada rulings and is now the basis of government policy.

https://americanaddictioncenters.org/  

CJ is a counselor for the American Addiction Centers, and he also has his own private practice. 

CJ served 3 years in the US Army as an Ammo Tech. His lived experience helps him relate to members of the Veteran Community when they are reaching out for help. 

About the American Addiction Centers:

American Addiction Centers was founded in 2007. Since that time, we have grown into the largest network of rehab facilities nationwide, with programs in California, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

Our success rate is more than double the national average, and we have been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Fox News, Daily Mail, Bustle, and USA Today.

**American Addiction Centers is a nationwide network of addiction rehab facilities. No funding is generated from any advertising or external sources, and there is no conflict of interest to disclose on this website or the content herein. Our funding is generated by substance abuse treatment services provided at our facilities.

#RCMP, #royalcanadianmountedpolice, #R.C.M.P. , #police

With just a few years on the job, Laurie lost her leg from a gunshot wound in the line of duty. 

Once she recovered, she went back to work for a 23 year career in policing. 

Today she is an author, speaker, and a PTSD recovery advocate. 

You can buy her book "10-33, Officer Down, Steps Back Up" on amazon by clicking HERE