Thank you, Rachel.
As Rachel and the chair have mentioned, my name is Doug Clorey. I am the department's director of mental health policy. In that capacity I have the overall responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the department's mental health strategy. There are some details on this strategy in your deck, and perhaps we can refer to some of the slides at some point during our discussion.
The strategy essentially consists of four elements. The first one is to ensure that the mental health services required by still-serving members of the Canadian Forces and by veterans are there. It covers the whole gamut from health promotion to assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and ongoing care.
The second element of the strategy is to build capacity. Building capacity is about ensuring that when we are not satisfied the resources are available, we take steps to initiate those resources, particularly in the local communities where the veterans are located.
We think we also have a role in terms of leading in this area, so there's a leadership component to our strategy.
Finally, we recognize that none of us can do this particular work on our own, so partnerships are key to being able to achieve.
Those are the four elements of the strategy. We can talk more about that as time unfolds this afternoon.
I also have overall responsibility with my team to develop the business processes and the policies associated with the delivery of mental health services to veterans and other clients within the department. This is all to say that I am ready, willing, and hopefully able to speak with you this afternoon on the mental health strategy of the department, on the mental health framework that constitutes how we go about delivering services to our clients, and also a little bit on the lessons we've learned over the last number of years.
Finally, I want to recognize the work of this committee as I suppose part of the work we do in partnership. We really look forward to what will come out of this committee in terms of recommendations, because we would like to think we're all working towards the mental health and well-being of veterans and those who have served our country.
Thank you.