Our peer support workers are what we consider to be well-trained. They come with that essential ingredient: they have worn the uniform at one point in their lives, so they are veterans of the Canadian Forces. They have lived experience. They themselves have had PTSD, depression, or other anxiety disorders—the operational stress injuries. They come to us when they are hired. They're all federal government civil servants. They work for either Defence or Veterans Affairs, and we provide formal peer support training to them. All of that training is done by mental health professionals at Ste. Anne's Hospital.
It's a fairly extensive training program, and they also receive considerable professional development and updates on training as they continue to work on a day-to-day basis.