Partner Spotlight: Comrades in Wellbeing | Boots on the Ground

Thanks to your support, and the support of the Bell True Patriot Love Fund, True Patriot Love can provide funding for Comrades in Wellbeing, a vital mental health program for Veterans.

Adjusting and rebuilding after serving

After serving, many Veterans find coming back to their communities and staying connected to be challenging.

For Veterans facing these understandable adjustment difficulties, the Comrades in Wellbeing program incorporates mental health support, connections with peers, and trauma education along with integrative wellness tools like sound healing and yoga.

The goal is to foster community reintegration efforts and reduce mental health symptoms amongst Canadian Veterans.

Connecting mind, body and soul

After an initial full-day, in-person session with other program participants, weekly online wellness sessions begin. Each 90-minute session includes sound healing, breathwork, yoga, followed by a peer reflection circle to discuss their practice and weekly experiences. For the reflection circles, participants will be divided into smaller groups led by the clinical facilitators and a trained peer support worker.

“It’s a really nice way to connect, not just with each other but connect mind, body and soul,” says Dr. Tiffany Hunt, psychologist and adjunct professor at Brock University and the co-lead of Comrades in Wellbeing.

“Treatment-resistant folks really look for this”

Comrades in Wellbeing is developed in partnership with Boots on the Ground, a 24-hour support line for first responders, and Brock University in St. Catharines, ON. The program started in early November and will run for 12 weeks.

“It’s treatment-resistant folks that really look for this stuff: they’ve tried everything, all the different meds, the different things. A lot of it helped but it’s just like Band-Aids until you get in there and try to heal the injury,” Veteran and peer support worker Sean Maher told CHCH TV. “It just takes time. It’s progress, not perfection.”

You can watch the CHCH News video, featuring an interview with Veteran Sean Maher and program lead Dr. Tiffany Hunt, by clicking here.

CBC News has also profiled Comrades in Wellbeing; you can read the article here.

With funding from True Patriot Love – and your support –

 Veterans in Ontario can participate in this innovative program for free.

Thank you!