Sure.
Sir, in working with a number of peers, of course, as the colonel said--I'm not going to get into the aspects of reintegration--I am working with some peers in the province who have successfully reintegrated back into the military. Right now I have an individual who is actually currently back in Afghanistan. At the end of the day, for some of these individuals, it's a long road to recovery. I guess there's a make-or-break point for some of these individuals. They realize that they can either go back in uniform or they can carry on.
I guess a big role we play, as peer support coordinators on the ground, is helping with their rehabilitation. A lot of these individuals, when they come to us, often feel very isolated and alone. Part of our job is to just break it down. One comment that was made to me this past summer in Cyprus, when I was there for the reintegration back to Canada, was that OSISS works because it's coming from a soldier's perspective, from a veteran's perspective, and there aren't people there in white coats talking to them--and no disrespect to the folks in white coats. I think that's why OSISS works: we've been there, we've walked in their shoes, and we understand what's going on.
A lot of times, with peer support, we can speak to these individuals, as I said, as soldiers. We can break things down. Sometimes we can take off the OSISS coordinator's hat and put back on the infantry soldier's hat and say to the guy, “Listen, your doctors have a treatment plan in place for you, so suck it up and listen to these guys. That's why they're paid the big bucks. They have the knowledge and education to get you going in the right direction.”
That's a big role we play. I'm not sure if Cyndi would like to add something.