Scroll down for interview checklists, updates, resources and contacts
Post production audio and principal music: Ryner Stoetzer Additional music: Dennis Burke
INTERVIEWING VETERANS - CHECKLIST 1
✓ Do read the Mindset chapter on covering suicide in general and take account of the guidance there.
✓ Do approach the person involved with openness about the process, outlining in advance areas of questioning.
✓ Do explain to the veteran the overall thrust of your story, the systemic issue/s you hope to illuminate and how their participation will help, then ensure your questions match that intention.
✓ Do offer the right to back out at any stage (needs editor’s prior approval).
✓ Do let the person choose an interview place, seating etc., ceding as much control as you can.
✓ Do discuss in advance possible triggers, watch for signs of distress, and lead the conversation away when they occur. Off the record, explain your purpose and explore ways in which the issue can be approached unthreateningly.
✓ Do recognize the clash of cultures between military and civilian life as a central issue and frame ques:ons accordingly.
✓ Do allow for breaks in the interview as needed or requested.
✓ Do seek and include elements of hope and recovery. Most service personnel and veterans with PTSD do respond to specialized counselling and peer-to-peer programs.
✓ Do disclose the full content of your story to the veteran before publica:on or broadcast, if you agreed they could back out at any stage. Seek alterna:ve ways of expressing anything that causes distress.
✓ Do provide helpline informa:on for people in distress.
INTERVIEWING VETERANS - CHECKLIST 2
✓ Don’t press for immediate agreement to participate. Explain your project and the terms you can offer. If they hesitate, leave a contact card and give them time to consider. Start as you mean to continue. Patience = trust = better story.
✓ Don’t say you know how they feel, even if you have military experience or have had PTSD in another context.
✓ Don’t rush the interview itself, or try to control where and when it will occur.
✓ Don’t object if they want to take a break or continue another time.
✓ Don’t imply by your questions or tone that their injury is permanent. Ask what they hope for when treatment is completed.
✓ Don’t frame questions as you might when dealing with a person in authority, where your job is to hold them to account. This should be the standard approach when dealing with vulnerable people, where implying doubt can do great psychological harm. Where fact-checking is called for, do it separately.
✓ Don’t forget to follow up when the story is completed and you have fulfilled your commitment to show them what it contains. Checking again to ask if they’re OK after publication/broadcast will reinforce the goodwill you have gained by your responsible handling of them and the story. It can be invaluable if you need to contact them again.
✓ Don’t forget that doing a respectful job in handling and interviewing a veteran with a mental injury will help you protect your own mental health.
Updates, Resources and Contacts
>>> Four more cases in which a veteran was offered medical assistance in dying by a VAC staffer came to light since an interview in this podcast was recorded, bringing the total to five (December, 2022). An employee has been suspended and cases have been referred to the RCMP for investigation. The Minister of Veterans Affairs, Lawrence MacAulay, told the Veterans Affairs committee: "We expect all Veterans Affairs candidate employees to interact with veterans with care, compassion and respect and the actions of this one employee is simply disgusting, and I condemn this behaviour in the strongest terms."
>>> Media releases, advisories and other information provided by Veterans Affairs Canada are available here. Journalists can contact VAC media officers by phone: 1-613- 992-7468 email: media@veterans.gc.ca
>>> Judy Jackson’s many documentaries, which focus on human rights and social justice, have won more than 60 international awards. Very early in her career she was the first woman director hired by “the fifth estate.” Learn more at Judyfilms.com
>>> “Casualties of War”: Judy Jackson interview with Steve Paikin of TVO’s “The Agenda” about the making of “War In the Mind” and a new rash of military suicides. https://www.tvo.org/video/judy-jackson-casualties-of-war
>>> “War In the Mind” documentary about PTSD and suicide in the military, directed by Judy Jackson – a film which raised $1m to treat more soldiers and vets. https://vimeo.com/152836880
>>> Article by Judy Jackson about members of our military desperately trying to help those who worked alongside them in Afghanistan: https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/11/11/Canada-Left-Afghan-Interpreters-Out-In-Cold/
>>> Study by Dr. John Whelan: “Breaking Ranks: How medically Released Canadian Military Men Understand the PTSD Diagnosis. https://journal-veterans-studies.org/articles/10.21061/jvs.v8i3.345/
>>> Study by Dr. Robert Whitely of Veterans in the Media with a focus on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the Lionel Desmond murder-suicide. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35578212/
>>> Media Panel: How to powerfully and positively report on Veterans’ mental health. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/media-advisory-virtual-panel-how-to-powerfully-and-positively-report-on-veterans-mental-health-this-remembrance-day-885972439.html.
>>> Andrew Lo: A Veteran’s journey and mental health care in Canada. https://healthydebate.ca/contributor/andrew-lo/