When Dennis MacKenzie was released from the military in 2013, he was lost.
Diagnosed with PTSD in 2007, he was in a cycle of medications and psychologists until he tried medical cannabis.
In 2016, he opened the first Canada House Clinics (then Marijuana for Trauma) location in P.E.I., offering peer support to other veterans.
But helping others resurfaced a lot of his own trauma, and he needed something to help keep him balanced.
He found disc golf.
“Even if you have a bad day of disc golf, you end up with this beautiful walk through the woods,” he said. “Just being able to be in the woods, open, having fun doing something else, but being in touch with nature, is just very grounding.”
On Feb. 7, he introduced other veterans to the sport through his organization, Brave and Broken.
In a song
The name of the organization comes from a song his mother wrote, Brave and Broken Soldier, about a picture of MacKenzie taken during a ceremony in Kandahar. His face anguished, he was carrying the casket of a friend who died Easter weekend in 2007.
It was a picture that made the cover of papers across the country and it was the first time MacKenzie’s family had news of him in several weeks.
MacKenzie readily admits some people are taken aback with the name, but he likens it to breaking an arm. If you treat it like a sprain, it’s not going to heal properly, he said.
“And if you don’t admit at some point that you’re broken and you don’t treat yourself like you’re broken, then you’re never going to get the proper treatment and you’re never going to heal yourself.”
At a glance:
• Founded in 2017 by Dennis MacKenzie, Brave and Broken started after Canada House Clinics stopped offering peer support. MacKenzie knew there was still a need.
• When it began, it offered a weekly meeting, along with some scattered activities like yoga, for veterans to discuss their problems and connect with others going through the same things.
• The organization is open to more than just military veterans, as MacKenzie recognizes those serving as firefighters, paramedics and police are open to similar types of trauma as veterans.
• Recently, the organization has been setting up more activities to help foster community among those it helps.
One of many
Disc golf is only one part of a push to get veterans with Brave and Broken participating in more activities, said Rebecca Murphy, a volunteer with the organization who helps to plan the events.
As the wife of a veteran, she knows firsthand the difficulties they face and the kind of care they need, she said.
“What I discovered as a spouse of a veteran, (is that) not all veterans want to sit and have a coffee and talk about their problems, so I said ‘hey, let’s try a different direction.’ ”
Along with disc golf, the organization has plans for an outing to the Belvedere golf simulator next month, a golf tournament planned for June and weekly activities like paint nights for spouses of veterans to share in community as well.
The sense of community that military veterans experience while living on a base is very different than what they experience when they return to a civilian neighbourhood, she said.
“That’s what I’m trying to do with all these activities. I’m trying to keep the guys busy, keep them engaged and give them that community that they lost.”
Comfort zone
Mike Murphy, Rebecca’s husband, appreciates the work his wife and Brave and Broken has been doing to get other veterans like himself out and interacting with people.
“I think right now, especially with COVID and the global pandemic, a lot of us, we self-isolated on our own long before the pandemic in a negative way,” he said, “and then, like myself, now it’s that point in my life where I am actually out and I’m doing things, I’m being social.”
Vanessa Gallant has been a firefighter with the Kinkora and Area Volunteer Fire Department for over five years, and disc golf was her first experience with Brave and Broken, she said.
“We never had anything like this on P.E.I. before, so it’s really awesome to have something that’s going push you to get out and get going.”
She was also new to disc golf and shared plenty of laughs as she learned the game.
“It’s a blast. I’m coming back.”
Having Brave and Broken open to more than just veterans is a crucial distinction to make, said Mike.
“As a veteran myself, I think that’s extremely important because you hear a lot about veterans, but our firefighters, our police departments, they’re everyday heroes.”
