Today there's been a group of programs related to Remembrance Day themes on CBC Radio One and I was shocked to discover the extent of the problem of homeless vets in North America. In the United States, it is estimated that one in four homeless people is a vet. In Canada, there are no statistics that I could find, which is a statement in itself. On the hopeful side of things, there are people who are creating programs based on the idea that you wouldn't leave a wounded person behind on the battlefield, so why would you leave them alone on the streets. The same could be said of civilians who are fighting their own internal and external battles with homelessness and poverty. There are also new programs to help soldiers deal with psychological trauma which seem to be working. Perhaps the success of these programs will also affect the way in which civilians deal with trauma in their lives.
I was intrigued with the stripped down language that the vets in the Drop the Baggage program at UBC were using to describe the process of treating each other. This dismantling of the current terms of treatment is a fresh way of empowering the person being treated. Peer counseling strips away the authoritative tropes of psychological treatment. This could be an essential part of the recovery process, making it more collaborative and helping the person being treated as not identifying and defining themselves as a victim.
Anakana Schofield has written an excellent blog post on the homeless in the current Occupy Vancouver protest at the VAG.
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