In general terms, there's extensive pre-deployment screening and education. It takes several weeks now, and included in that is a large portion on mental health concerns and mental health first aid. In addition, sir, as you may know, we currently deploy a mental health team with each rotation. There are always social workers, mental health nurses, and usually a psychiatrist in theatre, and now we're adding mental health clinical psychologists.
Post-deployment, the screening is very extensive, with follow-up after six months. We do everything possible to encourage the family to participate, but we cannot compel that. Through the military family resource centres, which Mr. Valley was referring to, there is considerable effort made to assist families pre-, during, and post-deployment. We can get into the details, but I don't think there's a resource problem with that part of it. I think we need to do more for families. I was hoping somebody would ask me to comment on that when Mr. Valley asked the question. There are systemic gaps for families.
Our major operational bases, such as Valcartier and certainly Petawawa and Gagetown are not located near major centres. In the United States, the family gets its medical care, while the member is in service, from the military. We don't do that here, and in a place like Petawawa, there are serious systemic gaps, even in getting a family doctor, much less any specialized care for the family or children when there are mental health concerns. Education and screening are fine, but if you haven't got the resources to plug people into to get the help they need, that's where we have a systemic gap, in my opinion.