SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - Mike Hopping knows his triggers.
“Barbecuing is a big one. The smells and the smoke. And crying children is another.”
The former member of the Canadian Military can remember the smells and sounds from his multiple overseas tours without issue.
“In my last tour I was in charge of security at the camp. So, when there were civilian casualties, they would come up to the gate, and I would leave the camp because you couldn’t bring them in without checking them out. I would go out and do triage to the people and search the causalities. You’d get two types of kids. The ones wailing in pain, which you knew were OK for a bit because they were crying. Then there were the ones that were quiet…”
Mike is one of hundreds of Island veterans who live with the memories and emotions that come with PTSD.
Recently, Mike, his father, Dennis, Jen Young and about 20 other veterans met at their weekly Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSSIS) and Brave and Broken Meeting.
The gathering followed the death of Island veteran George Curtis, who recently took his own life.
Now, more than ever, the group, ranging from those who served in the Second World War to those serving today, is stressing the importance of mental health and PTSD supports for veterans and their families on P.E.I.
All three agree more needs to be done.
“I want to know what the federal government is going to do. What policy or changes are going to be put into place to support veterans? We’ve been swept under the rug for too long,” said Mike.
Mike Hopping, 53
“I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2012/2013,” he explained.
When living with PTSD, a person can lose all motivation.
“I call it ‘going dark’. You withdraw from everything, and eventually it’s just you and your thoughts.”
Mike says he has recently returned from one of those periods.
“This is my first time back in a while. I went off the grid for a little bit.”
Mike served in the military from 1986 until 2015 and was stationed in Cyrprus, Alert, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Israel, Southwest Asia and Afghanistan.
He says hearing about other veterans’ struggles or suicides breaks his heart.
“You ask yourself why and try to find these answers, and it disheartens me that we’ve slipped through the cracks.
“PTSD and struggles with suicide can’t be kept in the dark anymore.”
In addition to his own battle with PTSD, Mike has seen four subordinates take their lives.
“These were four people who worked directly under me… We’ve trained people how to be a soldier. But we haven’t been trained how to be a civilian.”
Jen Young, 44
“I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2009, after about a year of trying to get help and getting someone to listen.”
Young served for 16 years from 1998 until 2014. Currently, she lives in O’Leary.
In 2016, she met Dennis MacKenzie, a fellow veteran and organizer of the Brave and Broken support group.
Brave and Broken is a peer support-driven program aimed to make every veteran feel welcome and feel like they have a safe place to come to when they are having a bad day.
Young stayed silent about her PTSD for many years.
“I’m a person who has always downplayed my struggles because I was never in a full combat environment. That fact always kept me from speaking out. But, that’s something the group is trying to stop: the stigma that a person can only have PTSD if they were in combat.”
Young says there needs to be more resources, and military members need to be made to feel comfortable to speak out and not be shunned or called weak.
Young attended the Wednesday meeting, which was filled with many emotions, including her grief over the death of Curtis.
“I met him in the fall of 2017. From the first time I saw him, you could tell he wore his heart on his sleeve. He had a love for life and he loved the outdoors. But, what stands out is he had these struggles and never let it show. He always had a smile.”
Recently, Young and a handful of other Island veterans came together and made a video titled “If I Take My Life”.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t get a whole lot of play when it was put out there. But, now George took his life and people are talking. The message behind the video is to talk about it loud and talk about it long.”
Dennis Hopping, 76
Like his son Mike, Dennis is worried about the high level of suicides in the Canadian Military.
“We feel the rate is higher than it is in the civilian world.”
Dennis served for 45 years before retiring. He was diagnosed four years ago and says his PTSD is a direct result of a number of incidents that occurred in his career.
“I didn’t think I had PTSD. I buried those traumatic events as far down as I could. But something somewhere triggered me and it all came back.”
Dennis says he has considered suicide.
“When a veteran is struggling or commits suicide, it breaks my heart because it means they probably weren’t able to get assistance or the help they needed.”
Dennis was also involved in the “If I Take My Life” video.
“It was sombre to say those words. I felt numb. But, by doing that video, I’m hoping we can make people aware of the high rates of suicide.”
At a glance
- The OSSIS and Brave and Broken support group meets every Wednesday at the Wilmot Community Centre from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All veterans, RCMP and first responders are welcome.
- To watch the “If I Take My Life” video go to, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgfJozqCC_w.
