Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 9th, 2011

[Tim Wall]

I think the Canadian Forces have done that. They did this very extensive report that included, I think, something like 59 recommendations for improving the forces' response to suicide prevention. I think the forces are probably doing a pretty good job of that. I don't know that there's anything I could add to this report that isn't already there. Again, I think what has been pointed out many times, what we haven't looked at, is the issue of veterans specifically.

[Colin Mayes, Conservative, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Do you think maybe that is something this committee should be looking at and maybe recommending, that transition from active duty to veteran and trying to get that information transfer so they can identify potential risks?

[Tim Wall]

Yes.

[Colin Mayes, Conservative, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Okay.

One of the things you mentioned was suicide as a public health problem and having a national strategy. Who do you see championing that? I was thinking about the Mental Health Commission, but would it be through Health Canada or through the Mental Health Commission? How do you see that happening? That could be tied in with Veterans Affairs too as a partner in some sort of strategy.

[Tim Wall]

It could lie with the Mental Health Commission. That was the approach that Scotland took. They developed a mental health strategy and under that umbrella they developed a suicide prevention strategy.

I think the Public Health Agency of Canada could potentially play a role there, although again, to the best of my knowledge, when I go to their website they don't include or address the issue of suicide prevention.

I think it is important to remember that, as I said, we have to be careful about assigning this to only one segment. There's a tendency to want to look at it as only a mental health issue, or a health issue.... It affects all these sectors. That's why I think a coordinating body is so critical, because we need a body that can bring them all together, and it's just not happening.

[Colin Mayes, Conservative, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Thank you for all that your organization does for mental health and suicide prevention.

[Tim Wall]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Ms. Duncan, please.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Wall, for your presentation and for your tremendous work in this field.

You talked about having a national strategy, and I'm wondering about the key planks of that strategy or the framework.

[Tim Wall]

Did you want me to...?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Just give us an idea of what the key pieces are, please.

[Tim Wall]

I think we can divide it into three and then three main goals and their objectives under each.

First is awareness and understanding. So public education and awareness is one of those pillars.

Prevention, intervention, and postvention is the second.

Knowledge development, transfer, and exchange would be the third.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay, that helps. Thank you.

[Tim Wall]

I have left a copy of our strategy with the committee, for anyone who may want that.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Do you think this is a useful way...? In terms of this committee, the prevention, intervention, postvention I think is a useful framework. Could you talk about best practices for each of those areas and make specific recommendations to this committee? Could you speak to that?

[Tim Wall]

I would be challenged to do that simply. I think the best practices that fall under each of those areas are outlined in detail in the strategy we put together.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay, that's fair.

[Tim Wall]

I couldn't do that very easily.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

On postvention, what would you make as a recommendation to this committee? Veterans' families are affected. What action should then be taken to build resiliency?

[Tim Wall]

While suicides are preventable, we know that sometimes people will die. So we need to make sure that people have access to the supports they need, and there are lots of them out there. There have been a lot of really good resources developed for people who have been affected by suicide. So I think we need to look at a way of pulling that all together so that we can do a better job of making sure that people, when a suicide does happen, have access to that information and to those supports.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

What research do we have regarding postvention? Should there be interviews with families, with veterans, to try to understand what happened?

[Tim Wall]

What we need to be doing, in my opinion, is outreach. So when we are aware of a family that has lost someone, at least make an initial contact, introduce ourselves and say if they need support or want to talk to someone--and we would really encourage them to do that--here is where we are, please call us, and maybe follow up sometime later.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Are there specific recommendations to build resiliency? These are families that are going to need tremendous support.

[Tim Wall]

There aren't the same kinds of standards for best practices that have been established in terms of support around suicide bereavement as there have been in terms of prevention. We're just working on that right now at my home agency clinic in partnership with CASP in developing those kinds of standards or best practices around supporting people following a suicide.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

What can you tell us of what you know now on how to build resiliency? Or does it not exist and this is somewhere we really have to...?