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First Legion PhD scholarship recipient: Improving PTSD treatment for Veterans

Nov 19, 2024
Raphaelle Merlo of Laval University in Quebec is the first ever recipient of a new $50,000 PhD scholarship in Veteran Health Research, offered by The Royal Canadian Legion. She is embarking upon research related to mental health and traumatic events.

CIMVHR awardRaphaelle Merlo of Laval University in Quebec is the first ever recipient of a new $50,000 PhD scholarship in Veteran Health Research, offered by The Royal Canadian Legion. She is embarking upon research related to mental health and traumatic events.

“Being supported by the Legion to carry out this research project confirms to me the importance of this issue and reinforces my motivation to optimize the psychological care offered to soldiers and veterans,” she says.

Merlo’s research will evaluate self-treatment options for Veterans with PTSD in an effort to tackle the disproportionate rate of reported PTSD symptoms amongst military personnel. Her study will investigate the potential of online, self-administered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in improving the well-being of military personnel and optimizing treatment.

“Given the psychological distress caused, and the consequences on physical health and psychosocial functioning, it is important to aim to improve the psychological treatments offered to military personnel and Veterans,” Merlo said.

Merlo was recently presented her award by Dominion President Berkley Lawrence at the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) forum in Winnipeg. Her study is called: “Compliance with self-treatment among serving soldiers: towards improvement and adaptation of services.”

“Her study could allow individuals on sick leave to be redeployed more quickly,” says Berkley Lawrence, Dominion President. “We are very much looking forward to hearing about the results of such relevant work.”  

Long wait times for traditional mental health services have limited the access to treatment, and as a result have prolonged the time required by military personnel to return to work. Through Merlo’s research, military personnel could have additional avenues for treatment and care.

“I hope to be able to improve the quality of life and psychosocial functioning of serving military personnel, in particular by helping to reduce wait times on waiting lists for operational stress clinics in Canada,” Merlo said.

Since 2013, when the Legion first established an annual master’s scholarship – now administered by the Legion National Foundation, many amazing applicants have applied, and important research conducted. The new PhD scholarship is offered in collaboration with CIMVHR, to support ongoing research contributing to the well-being of Veterans and military personnel. 

About The Royal Canadian Legion

Founded in 1925, the Legion is Canada’s largest Veteran support and community service organization. We are a non-profit organization with a national reach across Canada as well as branches in the U.S., and Europe. With over 260,000 members, many of whom volunteer an extraordinary amount of time to their branches, our strength is in our numbers.

Public Relations / Media Inquiries: PublicRelations@Legion.ca/ 343-540-7604

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