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Send Up The Count

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Send Up The Count Empty Send Up The Count

Post by Garrison Thu 01 Nov 2018, 7:38 pm


Send Up The Count works to ensure no man left behind

By: Chelsea Kemp
Posted: 11/1/2018




Send Up The Count was launched by CFB Shilo Base Master Corporal Daniel McInnis and two others in 2013. The group is based on the idea that military service members should look after their friends, especially when the war is over.

“I took that idea, I made it into a Facebook group that is very peer support oriented as well as mental health resource and suicide intervention,” McInnis said.

The group has grown to include first responders and American service members.

The name Send Up The Count derives from the military, a term used during foot patrols.

While a patrol is out walking, the people at the end start a count, touching the soldier in front of him. Each soldier touches the person in front of them until they reach the end of the line and have a final count.

Once the person at the front knows everyone is there, they can move forward.

“It’s about accountability, making sure that you have everybody and we took that term and applied it to keeping in touch with guys that you know; guys that you served with,” McInnis said.

During the past five years, Send Up The Count has seen growth in users, with approximately 12,000 now part of the program with similar shared experiences, be it as soldiers or first responders.

Around Remembrance Day and the lead-up to Christmas can prove the most active times of year for the group, with members often looking to connect.

It can be difficult for groups that have served together sharing intense moments and memories to go their separate ways, McInnis said, adding that people need comrades to share these experiences with.

Being alone with these thoughts can lead one to feel lost, so Send Up The Count was created to reach out and touch base and connect people, helping create and maintain peer relationships.

Five years on, McInnis said that the group feels special, adding that he was humbled by the way users have engaged with it.

McInnis has now taken a step back, letting users guide the conversation.

“I’m pretty happy with how it evolved into what it is and I’m proud of the membership for doing what they’ve done over the years,” McInnis said. “I’m happy it worked out.”

From the birth of the Canadian Armed Forces to now, the effects of war have a long history in the country, McInnis said.

Even so, the peer support network created by Send Up The Count is part of what McInnis sees as a tradition not only in the military, but also of humanity in general.

“It’s two human beings connecting to hopefully overcome,” McInnis said.

Unable to speculate on the number of lives saved by the group, McInnis himself has been involved with interventions of those teetering on the edge in dealing with issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I would like to say several lives have, not necessary been saved, but they have been helped.” McInnis said.

A change is taking place surrounding mental health, McInnis said, with stigmas that once permeated the conversation slowly beginning to dissipate. He used the example of the dangerous precedent set by encouraging people to “suck it up” when having a difficult time, which is increasingly a foreign philosophy in contemporary conversations.

“The majority of conversations are very support-oriented and not perpetuating any real stigma,” McInnis said.

With Remembrance Day approaching, McInnis said it is important to remind people that they are not alone and that resources are available for them.

“It’s hard for a lot of people and it’s easy to seclude and it’s not necessary,” McInnis said. “The phone can be the heaviest thing you’ve picked up in years, but it’s still doable … its important and it’s worth it.”

»ckemp@brandonsun.com

»Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp







Garrison
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Send Up The Count Empty Re: Send Up The Count

Post by Hammercore Sat 06 Apr 2019, 7:14 pm

Saskatchewan reverend awarded for veteran mental health support

Captain The Reverend Eric Davis was recognized for his work as part of Send up the Count, a peer-to-peer mental health support network for serving members and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces.

AMANDA SHORT Updated: April 6, 2019



At 19, it wasn’t a sense of duty that drew Capt. The Rev. Eric Davis to the armed forces. It was the allure of a free pair of combat boots.

“We were punks in downtown Toronto with mohawks, wearing combat boots and combats,” Davis says. “We figured, ‘Well, let’s get more free kit,’ and that’s why we joined. It wasn’t a smart thing to do. Once they issued us everything, we didn’t want to wear it.”

Looking back, the career that started so arbitrarily for him turned out to have a far bigger purpose.


Send Up The Count Minister-of-veterans-affairs-commendation-2291
Capt. The Rev. Eric Davis receives the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation from Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a ceremony in Richmond, B.C. on March 29. Davis was one of three recipients from Send up the Count, a volunteer-run military and veteran mental health initiative (VETERANS AFFAIRS CANADA/Milos Tosic).



Davis is a military chaplain at 15 Wing Moose Jaw and an administrator of Send up the Count, a mental health support network for serving members and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Davis said his own experiences with mental health helped direct him on the path of becoming a chaplain and equipped him to lead with compassion. During the 10 years he served as a paramedic in the reserves, he developed panic anxiety disorder.

“It was so severe that I couldn’t even leave my own bed. It was essentially overnight. I was fine, now I’m not fine,” Davis said. “God and I had many conversations, not that I believed in God. It was me venting and angry. And I finally got a response.”

Davis and two other administrators were part of the 13 who received the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation at a ceremony on March 29 in Richmond B.C. The award recognizes Canadians who provide outstanding volunteer service to veterans.

“’Send up the count’ is an infantry term,” Davis said. “What it means is if you’re eight people walking in the bush, you whisper ‘send up the count’ and the last guy starts at one and it carries up to the front guy. So basically, it’s to make sure that we’re all here.”

Whether it’s eight people or the Facebook group’s nearly 12,000, the sentiment behind the term is watching out for each other.

While the group was originally maintained by the team of administrators, it’s become largely self-sufficient. Members reach out and provide support to others regardless of time or distance.

“Obviously it was an honour to receive the award, but the reality is the work is done by the 12,000 members,” Davis said. “We are simply seven administrators who keep the conversation clean, make sure that the resources are there and protect our members from harm.”

Send Up the Count was formed in 2013 after one of the administrators experienced the suicide of someone close to them. Davis joined in December that year, following an experience in which he helped a veteran in crisis.

Davis is finishing a Masters of Counselling Degree at Briercrest College and Seminary. While his role as a chaplain has given him skills he can put to use supporting mental health, it really comes down to resources, providing support and learning to be vulnerable, he said.

“Being religious doesn’t mean you lead an easy life, not in the slightest. It just means you can maybe put it in perspective a little better,” Davis said.

“Panic and anxiety, a very difficult first year or two of a marriage, the loss of my first-born son, these are all extremely challenging things that become part of my ministry,” Davis said. “I’m talking to other people about how I’ve been through similar experiences. And I can walk on the road with them.”





Hammercore
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