Veterans Transition Program Info Session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUMMARY: Doug Allen, Operations and Recruitment Coordinator for the Atlantic region’s Veterans Transition Network will be on PEI Thursday to speak about the Veterans Transition Program. Veterans and those who work with veterans are encouraged to attend.

(CHARLOTTETOWN, PE) August 23, 2016 – Veterans and those who work with veterans are invited to attend an information session on the Veterans Transition Program at HMCS Queen Charlotte in Charlottetown on Thursday.

Doug Allen, Operations and Recruitment Coordinator for the Atlantic region’s Veterans Transition Network is on the Island this week to promote this program, which was developed to help men and women returning from military re‐integrate into civilian lives.

There is no cost to attend the information session, which takes place at HMCS Queen Charlotte in Charlottetown at 1:30pm.

A career soldier with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Allen (CD, BSW, MSW(s), SWC) has conducted peace support operations in Bosnia, combat operations in Afghanistan, and various domestic operations here in Canada. Since 2009, he’s been assisting soldiers with case management, crisis intervention, suicide awareness, and trauma care. In 2013, Allen took the Veterans Transition Program and was so affected that he took on the coordinating position for Atlantic Canadian region.

Donna Earl, Executive Director of the PEI Military Family Resources Centre encourages all island veterans and those who work with veterans to attend this free information session. She says, “We need to do everything we can to help the brave men and women who serve our country to get re-acclimated to life as civilians after returning from war. Our hope is that anyone reading about this information session will reach out to a veteran and encourage them to attend.”

The Veterans Transition Program (VTP) is a group-based program developed at the University of British Columbia by psychologists and medical experts to help men and women returning from military service “drop the baggage” of operational stress injuries and readjust to civilian life.

Allen looks forward to visiting PEI to introduce Island veterans to the Veterans Transition Program. He says, “The program takes a peer-based approach, which simulates the cultural bond found within the military. This bond that was so important to survival while serving, is then used in veterans’ healing.”

The Veterans Training Program is a 10-day program, broken into three phrases. Allen explains, “This allows the members to go back in to their real world and try their new skills on for size, and then give them the opportunity to return on the next phase to reflect on what worked and fine tune the skills in areas that they struggled with. This greatly reduces the “burst bubble” effect, where the members feel good while in a program, but then suddenly feel all alone with nowhere to turn once the program is over.”