On International Women’s Day, we want to take the opportunity to recognize all the incredible, fierce, positive and engaging women of the Aftermath Association. This year, Women’s Day is marked in Canada by the Status of Women Canada’s theme of #MyFeminism.
Feminism is about gender equality, a state where everyone of every gender has the opportunity to reach their full potential. #MyFeminism is the theme this year because of the continuing role of feminism in shaping the path for positive change towards achieving gender equality.
To that end, the Aftermath family would like to take the opportunity on this Day to recognize the way PTSD affects women in the military, veterans, and first responders. In the federal budget, the Government of Canada recently committed millions of dollars of additional funds towards responding to the great need in these communities to address the rising statistics on PTSD, and specifically women.
The statistics on PTSD and women are shocking, as nearly twice as many women than men are believed to be affected. In a 2017 study, Canada had the highest prevalence of PTSD of the 24 countries examined – 9.2 percent of Canadians will suffer from PTSD in their lifetimes.
Camp Aftermath will offer women actively serving in the Canadian Forces, veterans, police officers, first responders and fire service a unique opportunity to manage their long-term PTSD treatment by volunteering in Costa Rica during a two-week itinerary focused on rebuilding their confidence, engagement with community, and ultimately to help them redefine themselves as they move forward with PTSD. And the experience doesn’t end when participants leave Costa Rica; Aftermath is committed to working with local partners to establish volunteer opportunities in our participants’ local Canadian communities so they can continue our pledge to respond to human need, with human care.
Aftermath is an organization full of strong, inspiring women who volunteer their time towards the goal of creating a place where deserving military veterans and first responders can go and work on their long-term management of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) through active philanthropy in Costa Rica. The dream of Camp Aftermath is rooted in equality – that every person in Canada who devoted themselves to a life of service, who are now living with PTSD, can have the opportunity to re-discover their sense of purpose through acts of local volunteerism.
This Women’s Day, show your #MyFeminism by giving to our #GoFundRoto0 GoFundMe campaign to send the first group of participants to Camp Aftermath in 2018.
