National Defence Committee on April 1st, 2014

[Col Gerry Blais]

There is full availability. We do provide that service through the base personnel selection officer. We also have a coaching capability through the military employment transition program with Canada Company. The service is free of charge. I'd have to see the particulars of this case, but there would be no reason for anyone to be denied that service.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Colonel Blais.

Time has expired, Mr. Harris.

Mr. Norlock, go ahead, please.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and through you to the witness, thank you for appearing today.

Tim Laidler from Veterans Transition Network has previously appeared before this committee. At the VTN, veterans are helped by other veterans to reorient themselves towards successfully transitioning to civilian life. They've experienced successes.

Do you work with the VTN? Have you adopted any of their strategies? What sort of success do you see for veterans in terms of a transition process after they've participated in the OSISS peer support network?

[Col Gerry Blais]

I'll start with the OSISS question if you don't mind.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Sure.

[Col Gerry Blais]

We've seen great success with OSISS. The most important thing that OSISS does is to get people into treatment, because very often a person is reluctant to seek that treatment, but when they speak to someone who was in the same place they are now, who guides them into the treatment gateway, that gets them into the helping hands they really need to help them start on the road to recovery.

As I'm sure you were told by the mental health folks when they were here, the earlier we can get people into treatment, the better the chances that they will have a successful treatment plan are. OSISS is a huge component in that endeavour.

As far as the Veterans Transition Network goes, they've recently had meetings with the director of mental health and they've both come to the conclusion that it is not a clinical mental health program per se. It is more on the social support side. Just late last week, a copy of a proposed memorandum of understanding was sent to me by the director of mental health regarding a proposal to work with the Veterans Transition Network. I'm in the process of reviewing that now and will be meeting with the Veterans Transition Network in the fairly near future to discuss options.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Thank you.

With the strong element of trust that exists in the peer support networks, is the stigma associated with mental health issues less pervasive in these networks? In other words, is it easier to come forward with a mental health issue knowing that you are coming forward to someone who has also experienced the trauma? Part of that question would be what professionals are involved in OSISS other than the peer support coordinators, and what role if any do mental health professionals play in the OSISS program?

[Col Gerry Blais]

We are very much a team. The program manager for the OSISS program at the moment, Major Carl Walsh, has a master's degree in social work. In addition to managing and leading the program, he also has that capacity to assist them when there are mental health issues at play or to help the staff with resiliency.

Also on the Veterans Affairs side, there are mental health practitioners there who provide us with the training for our peers and who are also there to assist peers who may be going through issues themselves. Of course interacting on a daily basis with those with mental health issues can spark memories for them, and we have to keep a close watch and assist them with their resiliency as well.

There are no other mental health professionals, because a big part of the OSISS program is trust. The confidentiality of the program is hugely important to those who come into the program, and they understand that they are dealing strictly with a peer until such time as they're ready to step forward and receive that treatment. As soon as they do, OSISS has an in with the medical clinic to get people into treatment.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Thank you very much.

You touched on the training and recruitment process for peer support coordinators, but I wonder whether you could run us through the steps they take in training. I think it's very important to know that the training that the people who are volunteering for this receive is what we or the average person out there, because we're speaking to Canadians through this committee... what kind of training they would receive so that they could recognize and deal with some of the issues they may face.

[Col Gerry Blais]

They are trained by a psychologist, who trains them on a number of fronts. It's not a clinical program, so they are not trained to provide treatment. What they are trained in is to listen and to guide the discussion with individuals and groups—we offer groups sessions in OSISS as well. They are also trained to remain outside the fray, to a certain extent, because having suffered, it's easy to self-refer to the individual's illness and be dragged back into it yourself.

That's an important component of the training, that we teach them to listen and to empathize while remaining not aloof but apart from the individual's problems, enough that they can provide the guidance and the coaching that he needs.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Thank you very much.

We have talked about the transition from military to civilian life. How does the OSISS program facilitate the transition to civilian life, particularly with veterans suffering from these mental health issues?

[Col Gerry Blais]

The actual programs and their delivery are done by the staff in the integrated personnel support centres, but OSISS is a key player, in that the peer support coordinators have left the armed forces themselves. They have lived the transition experience and they can inform the person of what they can expect, how they may react, how they may feel as they're leaving, and that sense.... It is a huge change from coming into work in your uniform every day, having a chain of command, and being told where to go, where to be, what to do, when all of a sudden, from one day to the next, that disappears. They help them adapt to that reality before they have to face it.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Mr. Norlock.

Ms. Murray, please; you have seven minutes.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you.

Thanks, Colonel Blais, for being here to help us understand what the best therapeutic pathways are. You're the director of the JPSU as well.

[Col Gerry Blais]

I am.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

In March 2013 the JPSU implemented a policy that limited people who were registered there from making critical or discouraging comments on social media such as Twitter and Facebook and so on, and that included a mandatory form for JPSU members to sign. Is that policy still in place?

[Col Gerry Blais]

I would like to clarify it first.

We did not restrict people from speaking in social media or voicing an opinion. What we have done is strictly.... For everyone in the armed forces, commanding officers have a responsibility to inform them of the Canadian Forces social media policy and policy in dealing with the media and outside organizations in general.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Okay. So they were restricted from making critical or discouraging comments.

[Col Gerry Blais]

No, they were not. What the form does is inform them what the Canadian Forces policy is with respect to social media. It reminds them of that. We simply had them sign the form to indicate that they understand the policy.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

So have the JPSU members been signing the form?

[Col Gerry Blais]

Yes, they have.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Have there been any who refused to sign the form?

[Col Gerry Blais]

Yes, there have.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Some of the members have been quoted as saying that it's an attempt to intimidate. It's not illegal, but obviously there is a threat, so that they are signing the form under protest.

Have any JPSU members faced disciplinary action for improper comments?