ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION
Partners in Changing Lives
LEGION SUPPORT UPDATES
Richard & Biscuit
Richard Chalke has been a Police Officer with the Vancouver Police Department since 1997. In 2019 he was diagnosed with complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of the many exposures to traumatic events and scenes over the years serving his community....
In a New Light
We are honoured and overwhelmed to finally get to share this film with our community. It documents the journey of our client Juliet Walden and PADS PTSD Service Dog Stark. This STORYHIVE Documentary was produced by our dear friends, the incredibly talented Mack Stannard and Maddy Chang…
PADS PTSD Program
June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) awareness Month. PTSD is a mental health disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. It is estimated that 9.2% of Canadians live with PTSD everyday. The PADS PTSD program trains...
PTSD Program Initiative Launch
PADS is excited to soon be launching our first new program in 8 years: Dogs for Veterans and First Responders with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).The initial seed money for the program came through a grant from the Alberta Government to support the Veterans and...
Service Dogs for Veterans
Since 2018, PADS has been training and placing certified assistance dogs with Veterans and serving military members living with PTSD. Our goal is to increase the level of independence, enhance the quality of life, and increase community engagement for people living with PTSD. Service Dogs reduce the severity of the symptoms, speed recovery, and help reduce reliance on medication.
Veterans matched with a service dog showed a statistically significant decrease in PTSD and depression symptoms. In addition, for most participants, these decreases were both clinically significant and reliable. Further, participants reported significant reductions in anger and improvement in perceived social support and quality of life.” – Megan Kloep, PhD.
Meet Matt & PADS Fischer
Matt served in the Canadian Army for over 20 years, and was deployed in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. Proud of his military service, Matt continued a family tradition going back over a century. He was a leader and enjoyed his military career, until he didn’t anymore. Matt says that by the time he was in Afghanistan he began to question his role as a Peacekeeper. In 2014 he was medically released from service with severe PTSD and in 2022 was matched with PADS Fischer.
“This very wonderful fur-friend is a stalwart and incredibly astute worker, who has had my 6 wherever we go. I appreciate him immensely.”