I think the road to mental readiness program is an excellent example of translating a very complex issue and coming up with evidence-based programs that are accessible and available—and yes, military families have had access.
Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Bailey and I have presented the road to mental readiness program even to corporate Canada. This program has been adopted by the Canadian Mental Health Commission as well as one of their signature programs. It's a very useful program.
I also think it's really important to recognize that families, including military families, are resilient until they're not. Sometimes there's a lead up to a tipping point. We want to help people identify when they're at the suicide ideation stage—when they're thinking about it but haven't necessarily done anything about it. We want to let them know that they can seek help at that point. If they've taken it a bit further and they've developed a plan, then we need to make sure that they know they can reach out for help...and on down the steps and stages. People don't tend to go from being well one day to being suicidal the next, so we want to create as many opportunities as possible to support them and their family members along every stage.
Also, the interventions are different, depending on what stage they they're at and their families are at. I think we need to make sure that there's a broad base of support in communities, in neighbourhoods, as well as within the confines of the military family and the military operations. We want to make sure that people are aware, including those who aren't normally included, like parents, for example, who don't get access to the information, don't get included in the awareness initiatives and may or may not be aware of programs like Road to Mental Readiness.