The Captain Nichola Goddard Fund
Captain Nichola Goddard was a true example of leadership. As an Artillery Officer she effectively led her unit through harrowing situations, supported her comrades, and was highly respected by her peers. Sadly, in May 2006, she was killed in an ambush in Kandahar, Afghanistan, making her the first Canadian woman soldier to die in a combat role. She was 26 years old.
The Captain Nichola Goddard Fund provides national funding to directly benefit community programs that support servicewomen, female Veterans, and their families, which help address the unique challenges related to military life.
You can support the fund by making a donation today.
Past Recipients
Writers Collective Canada
Location: National (Virtual)
In 2022, True Patriot Love funded Writers Collective Canada via the Military Creative Arts Fund to launch its first virtual workshop series for Canadian women who have served in the military.
In 2023, funding was allocated through the Captain Nichola Goddard Fund to benefit Veteran women and servicewomen (inclusive of those who identify as women) across the country – offering a brave space to reflect, write, listen, be heard and build community. Virtual writing workshops (like the ones proposed here) offer opportunities to those who are isolated further by geography or physical limitations.
Amelia Rising Sexual Support Centre:
Location: Ontario
This program supports women military members who have experienced sexual misconduct to work through common symptoms of trauma, like relationship challenges, hypervigilance, and post-traumatic stress, through an equine therapy program.
Wounded Warriors Canada:
Location: Ontario
Funding supported women’s participation in the Wounded Warrior’s Trauma Resiliency Program, which has been clinically developed to help CAF members and Veterans acquire the necessary tools to overcome the impact of operational stress injuries.
Team Rubicon
Location: Ontario
Funding in support of the mental health and training of women Veterans volunteering with Team Rubicon Canada to serve communities in crisis in Ontario in 2022-23. This support provide capacity and mental health training for women Veteran volunteers and professional development for TRC’s women Veteran Staff members.
Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia/Landing Strong
Location: Nova Scotia
The project aims to increase the availability of mental health services and therapy resources to women Veterans and women service personnel who live with operational stress injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This project is an adaptation of the Landing Strong program that focuses specifically on women and addresses women’s specific mental health needs. By offering a women-only therapy program, this project will address the impact of trauma in women, as experienced by women, led by women, and help them adopt recovery strategies tailored to their specific struggles.
Quebec Veterans Foundation/Pepper Pod
Location: Quebec
Life’s big transitions, such as leaving the military, can be quite a challenging mission and The Pepper Pod was created to help women Veterans contribute to this buddy system as they face their “enemies”. Funding for this program supports Veteran women to take the life lessons from their previous participation in Pepper Pod’s Lifeshop program and build a plan to find their purpose. Then, they will plan to create a life that puts this purpose into action. Mind mapping, Neuro-linguistic programming, and coaching will be used to give Veteran women the tools to “fail forward”, grow, continue healing, and thrive.
Team Rubicon Canada
Location: Alberta
Funding supported Team Rubicon’s women’s chainsaw and mental health initiative. A four-day mentorship program, empowering women to learn or build their skillset in chainsaw operations and learning the tools of mental health first aid. By breaking down the obstacles to participation, Team Rubicon will help build participants’ confidence to step up on operations and their tools for positive mental health on and off deployments.
Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research at Queens University
Location: National
Funds from the Captain Nichola Goddard Fund supported a research project through the True Patriot Love CIMVHR Research Initiative entitled “Serving Women of the Canadian Armed Forces and Women Veterans.” The project aimed to update recent literature, consolidate, and apply an analytical lens to the existing research and scoping reviews that have been completed to date.
Veteran Transition Network
Location: Alberta and Ontario
Funding for this program supported the delivery of Transition Skills Courses (TSC) for women Veterans from Alberta and Ontario in 2020. The 5-day program helped women Veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic address and cope with the challenges of transition to civilian life, magnified by the pandemic, while also providing an opportunity to be supported by their peers.
The program offers women 50 hours of therapeutic group work, psycho-education, and skill rehearsal exercises.
Southwestern Ontario MFRC –
Location: Ontario
Funding supported a Mindfulness Training Workshop with women participants who are spouses/partners to a CAF member living with OSI. It built resilience and capacity in the participants who were experiencing “Compassion Fatigue”; developed a peer support network, and reduced isolation.
Veterans Emergency Transition Services Canada (VETS Canada)
Location: National
Recognizing the unique need of women Veterans in crisis, this project allowed VETS Canada to meet the ever-growing need for women-specific Veteran support nationally. VETS Canada created a promising-practice guide regarding the provision of emergency support for in-crisis / homeless women Veterans. VETS Canada has identified specific challenges and dynamics of the women Veteran experience and combined this into a resource for utilization of other organizations and initiatives so that women Veterans who are struggling/in crisis/living homeless receive the best support.
Women Warriors Healing Garden/Ottawa Victim Services
Location: Ontario (Ottawa)
This funding represents the first community investment in Women Warriors Healing Garden, a not-for-profit organization that partnered with the registered charity, Ottawa Victim Services (OVS) to deliver hope and space for survivor-led therapy for Servicewomen and women Veterans. Ottawa Victim services is a community-based agency that provides emotional support, practical assistance, referrals, and advocacy to individuals who have been victimized as a result of crime or tragic circumstance.
This program supported women with individual counseling, group counseling, peer support, group art therapy, and other activities in the presence of domesticated farm animals.
Veterans Transition Network
Location: Nova Scotia
The Veterans Transition Network delivers programs sensitive to the unique challenges women face in the Canadian Armed Forces and during transition, such as discrimination, harassment and military sexual trauma. Funding supported a 6-day program with 100 hours of group counselling and skill development services that provided support for five Veteran women and two paraprofessionals experiencing challenges in transition.
Royal Canadian Legion – Trenton (Branch 110)
Location: Ontario
Funding supported a newly identified need within the spousal community of Veterans. The program enabled the development and facilitation of a monthly peer support group for spouses of ageing Veterans by a registered psychologist.
Free Spirit Therapeutic Riding Association –
Location: Nova Scotia
Funding supported the Freedom to Grow program which provided Attachment-Based, Trauma Informed Equine Assisted Psychotherapy to women military members and veterans. This project focused on individuals struggling with mental health (PTSD, MDD, Anxiety, etc.) and psychological issues (parent-child conflict, workplace stress, harassment/workplace bullying and marital discord).