This year’s Bell Let’s Talk panel discussion focused on listening, talking, and being there for ourselves and each other.
Video / January 26, 2022
Transcript
(ET) Hello everyone. Hello and welcome to Bell Let's Talk Day. This year's theme for Bell Let's Talk Day is “Keep Listening, Keep Talking and Keep Being There!” Thank you for joining us in a conversation to help create positive change.
My name is Lieutenant (Navy) Esrom Tesfamichael, and I am pleased to be your MC for this event. My name is Lieutenant (Navy) Esrom Tesfamichael. I'm pleased to be your MC for this virtual event.
Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge that the land on which we are gathered is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. I recognize that many of you watching today's discussion will be in various locations across the country, within different traditional Indigenous territories, and I highly encourage you to take a moment to learn about the Indigenous Peoples associated to the territory you reside and work from.
Today marks the 12th anniversary of Bell Let's Talk Day. Bell Let's Talk Day has been an important initiative in fighting stigma toward mental health issues, improving access and care, and supporting research in the fields of mental health.
Our virtual event today is in support of the national Bell Let's Talk Day campaign and reflects the commitment of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces in supporting the mental health and well-being of all Defence Team members and their families.
To demonstrate this commitment, our Mental Health co-Champions, Deputy Minister, Mr. Bill Matthews, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant-General Frances Allen, and Wanda Boudreau, President of the Federal Government Dockyard Chargeheads Association, are here with us today and are pleased to take an active role in this event.
Also joining us today is the Surgeon General of the Canadian Armed Forces, Major-General Marc Bilodeau; Honorary Captain (Navy) Stephanie Richardson, Military Personnel Command; and the Director General of International Security Policy, Suneeta Millington.
Today's panel format is intended to encourage open discussion around mental health and the stigma attached to mental illness and will feature questions submitted by Defence Team members, themselves.
Before we begin, I'd like to take a couple moments to further introduce one of our panelists, Honorary Captain (Navy) Stephanie Richardson, who has been a tireless advocate for youth mental health and a transformational leader in this space since the tragic loss of her 14-year-old daughter, Daron, in 2010 to suicide.
Stephanie co-founded her daughter's namesake organization Do It For Daron, more commonly known as DIFD, and turned a youth mental health movement into a strong brand known not only in the nation's capital but across North America.
This movement has raised millions of dollars for youth mental health, but more importantly has saved countless lives.
Do It For Daron has ignited several anti-stigma campaigns, and created both mental health apps and important educational programs for youth. Since its inception in 2011, over 20,000 students from across Ottawa have come through the IIJM program to learn about mental health and mental health issues.
I would like to now invite our panelists to join us for our discussion. Our first question going to Deputy Minister Matthews.
(ET) Deputy Matthews, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many common changes, but has also notably impacted us all in very different ways. These changes coupled with increased stress, anxiety, and loneliness, may have depleted the resilience it takes of many of our Defence Team colleagues. From your experience, has the pandemic taught you anything about the importance of supporting our individual mental health and that of those around you?
(BM) Thank you for the question. I think I would share a couple of thoughts on this front. It's clear the strain is building, and it comes and goes for people. You know, Covid is weighing on people, and it's impacting us all in different ways. You know, personally I'm lucky, because my kids are grown and out of the house, but you've got team members who are dealing with kids being schooled at home, taking care of parents, and missing social circles. So, throw on top of that the heavy workload we're all carrying, I think what it's led me towards, is a more... It forces us to be more creative on how we check in with people. I have taken to ambushing people by calling them on MS Teams and schedules. I find just asking people how they're doing works for some. Others will not give you very much when you ask that question, so sometimes we start by talking about how the last meeting went, and then we devolve into how they're doing, how's your team doing, and just sort of more creative conversations like that, which, given that we're mostly working remotely, I think it's an important thing.
I think the other thing I would flag is... some people need different ways to kind of reenergize. In my case, if I get outside for a walk, or away from work for an afternoon, I can reenergize pretty quickly. Not everyone is like that. Some people need two weeks away, three weeks away, or some people need contact. So really getting an understanding of your team members and what it is they need, and getting them comfortable telling you what it is they need to kind of rejuvenate, because we're all different. So I think that's what I've learned from all this, but it's really about finding new and different ways to keep the connection and the conversation going.
(ET) Thank you for that, Deputy. I'd like to open it to the rest of the panel if anybody else would like to chime in on question number one.
(FA) Maybe if I could answer... I think, probably for me, much like the Deputy said, one of the things is that everybody actually does react differently, and does need to recharge differently, and I actually learned things about myself. I mean, I've always loved a good book, I've always loved to be quiet, and I've always, you know, considered myself an introvert that way, as, you know, the person who recharges their batteries by having quiet and peace, and... it's time to think. Whereas other people, you know, recharge their batteries by going out and being social, and so I think for folks who recharge their batteries, like the Deputy has said, in different ways, the capacity to actually manage this is individually difficult as well. So while, you know, maybe the isolation of Covid actually helps me recharge from the stress of lots of work and things going on too, I know for some people, that isolation must be doubly difficult, if their way of recharging is to actually make connections as that... as that... battery charging thing. So I think knowing that about people is so important, and not worrying about the ones who want to be quiet, because that's their recharge, but also understanding that for others it might mean that extra time that you might need, making sure you just have those social connections, in addition to just, sort of, work.
(ET) Thank you, Ma'am, and that segues nicely into the next question, which is for you, and you touching on people's individual needs is kind of reflected here. So, Ma'am, as you know, mental health is different for everybody, its impacts on people are a very individual experience, and depend on their personal situation, their intersecting part of their identity, so do you see a shift within the Defence Team, towards a mental health space that is more inclusive, and better able to adapt in a diverse workforce?
(FA) Yeah, I'd say I think that there is a shift, and I think that there's more to do. And some of the things I guess that I would see that I think are different and signs of progress is actually just that we're talking about mental health in different ways, and finding different avenues to do it. Either just through talking about it with our colleagues, about how we're feeling, or through some of the campaigns that we've run. I think we ran the... you know, the Clothes Peg campaign, which is talking about maybe... having a... handing somebody a clothes peg and showing them that you're there and you're available to talk. Another one was two or three years ago, I think, we had the Button campaign, that had just words on buttons that helped to describe what you were saying, and I've got to say, it takes a lot of courage to pick up the button and put it on your lanyard that says “anxious”, or the button that describes a feeling that isn't like “hangry”, which I was often, “angry” and “hungry” at the same time. But I think the opportunity to create conversations is an indicator that we are, as a Defence Team, as a community, becoming more open to talking about mental health, but I don't think that the stigma has gone, unfortunately.
I do hope that the multiple ways that we recognize that... that people deal and react, and have resiliency or not, becomes something that we're more comfortable with, that everybody is actually different. When I take a look at the work we're trying to do to improve diversity and inclusiveness in our organization at large, the conversations around diversity make me somehow also remember that, you know, people are diverse in the ways that they respond to things, and the ways that they manage situations. Resiliency is so important to us, but resiliency isn't “Don't be affected by it”, it's how you deal with being affected by something, and people manage that differently. And so, I think us all being aware that people deal with challenges and issues, as it pertains to their own mental health, differently, is just something that has to be part of the conversation, and therefore, maybe we approach the conversation in multiple different ways.
(ET) Thank you, Ma'am. I'd like to open it to the panel. Would you anybody else like to comment on that last question about individuals and their intersecting identity factors impacting how they're dealing with stress? Sir?
(MB) Yes, so... I'd like to add, in fact, that...from a health care perspective, we're also looking at better adapting our care to…to the diversity of the Canadian Armed Forces. Whether it's women's health or the health of visible minorities, we're really looking to better adapt this care, because we know very well that needs differ depending on the different individual factors at play for each of our members. So I think that this is important, because mental health is experienced differently by different people, depending on their sex, their gender, their sexual orientation, their background, their ethnicity. So this, these are the factors that make it essential for the care approach to be individualized. From a health care perspective, I think this is something we're taking very seriously as well.
(ET) Thank you, sir. Moving to the next question, this one is directed at Wanda. It's no surprise that after two years, nearly two years, of working from home, that some folks are likely going to be facing some increased stress around the prospect of returning to a physical work environment. Do you have any advice on how to best mentally transition from a work-from-home situation to returning to the office? And that advice can extend to managers as well, because everybody is going to be dealing with the... the impact on their personal lives and psychological lives coming back to the office.
(WB) Yes, I... I've been working before as a supervisor actually with the Navy in... So, I had people in all the time. We actually did not really work from home, we had to do a rotational basis, and I believe that some of the factors that we used would help the people that are going to have to go back to the physical workplace. I always reached out to all of my employees, the ones that were there, and told them that, you know, at any time, if they had any pressures, just to reach out to their managers, supervisors. I was actually on a call earlier today with some colleagues from across Canada who are working from home, and they validated for me that some of the techniques that I told my employees were to reach out to your coworkers. And one of the interesting things I learned today was one of the individuals, they have a team meeting that was approved by their managerial structure to have a half hour each week to talk, and talk about the stresses and things that are affecting them, but not particularly about work itself. Just to talk on a personal level together. Also, again, to reach out to your supervisors and managers. And we can't forget EAP, that's something that people should remember, that they can reach out to and work towards, coming back to that work environment. Because it can be very stressful. Also, really to talk to your loved ones and share what you're feeling, it'd help people, I believe, anyway. And at the end of the day, none of us are alone, we just need to reach out to each other, and to people that can help us to deal with all of that. And be kind and considerate to each other, for sure. Thank you.
(ET) No, thank you. And that ties in neatly with the theme for this year Bell Let's Talk campaign, which is “Keep listening, keep talking, keep being there”, so communication is very much key to that as well. Would anybody else like to comment on that? Sir? Deputy?
(BM) Thank you. Maybe I can share my experiences as Deputy Minister at PSPC, since I spent most of the pandemic as Deputy Minister at PSPC, and I worked probably 18 months, 17 months at home, most of the time. And then over the summer, we started coming back in. And now, here at DND, I'm back in mostly full time, just because of the nature of the work. In my own experience, it was a little scary coming back to work... in the office. A couple of things that helped me, don't go in on a Monday, when you first come back. Getting reorganized to go back into the workplace was stressful, and you had to bring your food with you, and your coffee, because nothing was open. Mondays are hard enough as it is, and so I avoided going into the office on Monday, because I was always struggling Mondays anyway, and so... But the biggest thing that helped me was understanding who was going to be on the floor, and also in the building. Because I can imagine just walking in and seeing a sea of people, when you're a little nervous, because of Covid. And so, knowing who was going to be on the floor, and I'd say “OK, you know what, I know those people, I trust them,” because you're trusting your colleagues to stay at home if they're not well. And so, it was really, I was quite surprised, helpful to me to kind of know who was going to be there, and then after looking forward to seeing them and connecting, but also, that dissipated sort of the nervousness of walking back into a sea of people, because we're not used to it anymore.
(ET) That's an excellent point, thank you for that, Sir. Anybody else?
(FA) Yeah, maybe if I could as well. I think even from a manager's perspective in that, it's recognizing that maybe... or remembering, maybe, that everybody doesn't feel the same way that you do. Be that one way or the other, you know, that people come with, you know, family members who have potentially compromised health, and so their trepidation or their concerns or their fears might be, you know, heightened, compared to somebody who is just dying to get back at work and socialize with humans in a face-to-face environment. And really recognize that, that back to work approach, even though we're taking an individual approach to everyone's needs as they come back into the workplace, I think we have to also adjust to the fact that everybody responds differently, and everybody feels comfort at different levels, and that we just need to respect that as we interact with folks, as we all come back to the workplace.
(ET) I think that's a good point, Ma'am, and then building up on what Wanda was saying about talking and communicating, some people might not be comfortable to express their fears or their anxieties. Any recommendations or suggestions that anybody can offer on how people can either muster up the courage, or start having these conversations with their colleagues about how they feel?
(SR) I thought it was interesting, Deputy, that you shared some things that worked for you, how Mondays were challenging, so if you could avoid going in for your first week back on the Monday. Not only I think it's helpful that you shared that that's how you feel, I think to let your managers hear that... that was OK, and that could maybe allow that same thing for some of their employees. And you know what, I think people are hesitant to say when it's not working and they're feeling overwhelmed. So, again, I think it's that permission, and when the conversations start up top and they filter down, it lets everybody exhale a little bit.
(ET) Excellent, thank you for that Captain Richardson. The next question is for Suneeta. Bell Let's Talk Day encourages us to talk about our concerns and our challenges instead of dealing with them on our own. How can we make sure that other people can talk about their problems safely?
(SM) Thank you, Esrom. This is a really important question in my view, because it gets a sort of very fundamental issue, and I think that's the issue of trust. And to pick up on a point that Captain Richardson just made, you know, that links to questions of vulnerability, and feeling like you can expose yourself with your colleagues, and sort of be true to yourself. In my opinion, the only way people are going to feel comfortable talking about their personal problems when they arise is when they feel comfortable talking, period. The idea isn't to be there for someone or to reach out to someone only when things aren't going well, but rather to build a network of trust that we can lean on through the good times and the bad as well. And to do that, trust needs to be established, developed and maintained in each workplace right from the start. And I think we all have a role to play in making that happen. I think there are, I'd say, two key pillars amongst many others that support an environment of trust, in my view. Firstly, I think it comes down to inviting people to bring their whole selves to work, and that points to vulnerability, being open about sharing who you are. And I also think it's about avoiding a culture of blame, because a culture of blame can give rise to fear, and that undermines trust, obviously.
In terms of, I think, this notion of bringing you whole selves to work, it's really embracing a wide range of people for who they are. And the Deputy raised this, the Vice has mentioned this, we're all different, we all approach things differently, see things from different perspectives, and the more that we invite people to bring those to the workplace, not only does it promote innovation and creativity, but it actually fosters the depth of interpersonal relationships that I need... that I think we need to have these more meaningful relationships that give rise to the trust that's necessary to have open conversations. I think that idea of trust also is about building an environment where people can reach out and speak out. And when we have that fear that undermines that ability, that really erodes that sense of trust. And when I talk about a culture of blame, what I mean by that is a culture that sort of looks to pin... to pin things on people, as opposed to saying, “Hey, collectivity we think that there is a weakness here, there's something that we can address, let's do it together.” So it's sharing successes, but it's also sharing failures. And so, I think if we want to give people the support to feel that they are in an environment where they're bringing themselves forward, they're willing to take risks, they're willing to show themselves and be vulnerable, we also need to be very proactive about making sure that we're not inadvertently creating a culture of blame within the workplace. Because I think that's really toxic to this whole question of trust. I'd say, from a personal point of view, that when I feel valued, or heard, or seen, not just for what I'm bringing personally…uh, professionally, I mean, but also personally, and when I have trust... Those are the moments when I feel like I'm able to speak candidly, and be vulnerable, and make those human connections that create that healthy workplace.
(ET) Thank you for that. I'll open the floor for any other commentary on that last question. (Silence) Well, then I'll just offer a comment. I think part of... Building on what the Vice was saying, when she was talking about those buttons that we used to wear to work, and it would tell us how we were feeling, if we were hangry, or if we were upset or scared, and bringing your authentic self to work, part of the... you know, the acceptance and the security that you're talking about Suneeta, might be an understanding that we are many things. We're not just one thing, and we're not one thing all the time, so somebody can change their mood, or can change their outlook from day to day, or even within the same day, and that being OK as well. And that understanding giving comfort to both managers and employees to feel that they're being understood and appreciated for all their many parts, and aren't expected to be one thing in particular. I'm going to move to the next question for our Surgeon General. This question comes from our Defence Team. There is still a lot of stigma around issues related to mental illness and operational stress injuries within the CAF. How do you explain this? There are still a lot of members suffering in silence, waiting until their situation becomes critical before they consider getting help. What should the organization do to overcome these obstacles that are holding some members back from using our psychosocial supports during times of distress? Sir?
(MB) Yes, the reality is that, despite all our efforts, there is still now, in 2022, stigma around mental health, mental illness, the…the operational stress injuries. We've made a lot of progress in the last 20 years to significantly reduce this stigma, but there is still work to do. How do we explain this stigma? I think there's still fear about some…from our members, about the confidentiality of the medical information they disclose to health care professionals. Let me reassure our members about this today by reminding them that all our clinicians are…have a professional obligation to maintain the confidentiality of anything that it disclosed to them in a medical interview. So I can reassure you on this aspect, we have mechanisms in place to monitor this important aspect of our care, on which our members' trust in their health system depends. Some members are also afraid that disclosing their problems will have an impact on their career. Let me…let me tell you that the impact on your career is sometimes worse when you don't disclose the problem, then you leave it and then it takes years before you get care, than if you…you…you seek help quickly. What we know from studies over the past several years is that the sooner we are able to intervene to help our members who are suffering in terms of their mental health, the better the prognosis, the better the chances of recovery down the line, and then continuing to have a successful career within the Canadian Armed Forces.
What can we do to reduce these obstacles to accessing care? Well, first of all, it starts with caring leadership. It starts with leadership that sets an example, that creates a healthy, safe environment, like we just talked about, that openly shares the stories of people who experienced mental illness and overcame it, because they…they opened up, because they sought help, and then they were able to get through it. So, it's by encouraging dialogue, ultimately. And that's what the Bell Let's Talk campaign is trying to do of course. Thank you.
(ET) Thank you, sir. I'd like to open this question as well to the rest of the panel.
(SM) Could I just jump in? The Surgeon General said something I just wanted to pick up on briefly. It was this point of being “caring leadership”. I think that, for us to be able to help each other, we have to know each other, so we can gage signs of things not going well. And that starts with getting to know people at the outset. And so, I think there's a responsibility that we each have to each other, in the hope that people feel the same responsibility towards us, that they can actually sometimes pick up on the signs that we're not communicating necessarily verbally, or we're not communicating consciously. But people aren't able to do that unless they have a sense of us in the first place, and we're not able to do that for others unless we have sort of an emotional and intellectual curiosity about them, an investment in them from the outset. So, I think that that idea of keeping vigilance for each other is really critical throughout the workplace, generally speaking, and certainly in an environment that we're living in right now.
(ET) Absolutely, thank you, Suneeta. Any other commentary on that last question?
(BM) I think if I could...
(ET) Deputy.
(BM) Just building on this, you're quite right, you've got to know each other well enough to kind of have that relationship to... to really encourage a dialogue, and to notice when something's off, because... And you know, I used to do it quite frequently during meetings in person, when I noticed someone was quiet, I just called them back to my office to say, you know, “Everything OK?” and I'd usually base it around the issue at hand, but it was also a way to say, “Are you OK?” It's tougher when you get to know people virtually. You know, I'm going to be onscreen with people I may have to wait six months before I ever meet them face to face, and it's... it's really more difficult to pick up on those cues. I think, you know, Stephanie touched on this earlier, in that... once you kind of open up a little bit and show vulnerability to your team, like someone has to start, right? And it's not a day one conversation necessarily in a new relationship to say, “Here I am, and here are some of the things I'm struggling with,” but I... I think it's in the leadership group to be the first one to open up that dialogue and show that, you know what? Life is stressful, and we are all struggling with different things. And I think... I think once someone starts, the conversation is easier, but picking up on those non-verbal cues is one of the biggest challenges in this virtual world that many of us are in.
(ET) Thank you, Deputy. The next question is for Captain Richardson. As mentioned, this year Bell Let's Talk's theme is “Keep listening, keep talking, keep being there”, and as the Deputy just said, we're all struggling with things, and we're all struggling with things differently. So how is it possible to support ourselves and to support somebody else, when we ourselves are dealing with a mental health issue or a stress or an anxiety?
(SR) Yeah, you know what, that's a good question, and it's been my experience that sometimes it's possible, and sometimes it's not. And both of those things are OK. Peer-to-peer support is invaluable, and it's not always to your manager or the person who sits next to you, but if you find anybody at work that you can relate to and share with, it can also be very therapeutic for them, if they're feeling some of those same things. So I could be struggling with anxiety or depression, and I have a conversation with someone and have a bond with them, and they've got the same struggle, so I am able to... to help and... and... and they're able to help me, right? Like... it's sharing tips and being supportive of each other. That can also go to the point where you can't. When they say, when you're on an airplane and something goes wrong, put on your oxygen mask first, to be able to help someone. So if you don't have your oxygen mask on and you're depleted, if you're a primary caregiver at home, and... you've tapped all of your resources, it's very hard to help someone, and that's OK too. And we see that a lot with the primary caregivers that burn out. It's real, you will get people coming to work that are feeling like that, and they're looking after someone at home, and they have very little left. So it is problematic, I think it's hard to recognize in someone when they've reached that level. I think it's also very hard to recognize in ourselves, because nobody wants to feel like they have nothing else to give, and nobody else to help. So... if we can get people healthier before they get to stage 4, I think that's really important, and if you can start to learn the signs of yourselves, when you need to step back and refuel and regroup. And it's bigger than self-care, it really is. And people have to recognize that they matter, and as much as they love the people around them, they also have to love themselves enough to... to... to know when they have nothing else to give, and then they have to be strong enough to ask for help, and it's someone else's turn to help them.
(ET) Thank you for that, Captain Richardson. And I think part of what you were talking about at the end there is modeling, and role-modeling... you know... appropriate and responsible self-care, and diagnosing when something's going... going a little off in your day, and taking care of that first. I'd be interested to hear what the Deputy and the Vice want to say on that, because, I think, often, especially within the Defence Team, people will go to the point of helping people to a fault, without taking care of themselves, and giving yourself permission to model good self-care, and to model good responsible mental health practices. Deputy, Vice?
(FA) Maybe, if I could. Esrom, I think you might have a camera in my office, because I really, truly, have been feeling this lately, where I... you know, I've come into a job, I've been six months in the position... it's... you know... very broad, there's lots to learn, there's lots to do, and... and I have found that I can work 20 hours a day, and still not accomplish all the things that I'm supposed to accomplish, or could accomplish. And you're always wanting to... to push that bubble, and I have... I have... I have found that I got to the point where I just simply was being actually quite ineffective across a range, because I... I wasn't finding any balance after myself at all. And... and yet, at the same time, you find you're trying to explain why you're less than... than Superman, or Superwoman, along the way. Like saying, you know, “I'd really would like a lunch in my schedule of 9 hours or 10 hours today, and not just because I want to kick back and read the newspaper and eat lunch, I just feel like I need a mental break, or a time to process some of the thinking of all the things that have been going on in the morning and the afternoon.” And yet, you feel guilty that you've asked for time in the middle of the day to... to break from what is a constant opportunity to do more, because there's so much to do at any given point in time. And so I think it is really challenging, and it's important that we... that we be honest with ourselves that we actually do have to do some of this self-care, and that so does everybody else.
I'm not alone in this, as much as I like to feel that I can really try to maximize my performance at all... at any given point in time, there is actually this need that I have found that I actually give myself some time and some space to just separate from all the things that I need to do, and... eat my lunch while I read a file, or go to the gym, which, you know, I'm really struggling hard with doing, but I also know is good for me. And I also know it's the place I get to think, and often thinking about things that have to do with work, but it's... it's different, it challenges it, it provides you these mental breaks. So I don't know if you've got a camera in my office, but you have hit on the struggles that I certainly have been working with for this last little while. And I'm really blessed, because I have a team here, who are trying to help me with that, trying to help me with the things that I need to actually make myself a better performer, not a harder performer, in the work that I'm doing. And so I encourage everybody to try to find that balance, and we can't have it all the time, and that's a reality, but I really think we need to, as an institution, find it. And it's hard in Covid, because you keep feeling like it's just around the corner, it's just around the corner, things are going to get better. If I just hold out a little longer, maybe I don't need to self-care right now, maybe I can just hold out a little longer. Well, I think the time comes where you actually have to think about what it is that makes you healthy. So, there's my... there's my perspective on that. I don't know if the Deputy has a similar... a similar experience, you know, he's certainly in an incredibly difficult position and difficult, demanding job.
(BM) I think... A couple of things to share here. One, you know, trying to be more aware of what I need on an ongoing basis, versus to take care of myself at all, so what I need in the moment. And you're quite right, Vice, that time is not our own, we don't control our calendars, but you know, I know that yeah, exercise, and more important for me, getting outside while I exercise is key. And so that's going to be ongoing. And then, I'm particularly feeling it, you know, this is day 8 for me in this role, and I'm surrounded by people who are trying to help me. Sometimes, they're so keen to help that that actually puts strain on them and me. They kind of go above and beyond, just because. And so, trying to get that message to them about what I need and what I don't need, so they don't, frankly, fill up their own days trying to be helpful. I think one of the things I've learned about myself is, when I'm feeling pressure, canceling a meeting on short notice gives me immediate relief. So, if I start to feel the strain all of a sudden, I'll look at my calendar for the next three days, and just... and I... you know, my admin team has been great, they know me, and I'll just say “Cancel this, this and this,” and that, for whatever reason, psychologically, makes me feel like I've got a little bit of control. But it doesn't replace what I need on an ongoing basis, which is time and space and fresh air. And so, finding the balance between the two is the trick.
(ET) Thank you for that, Deputy, and thank you for that, Vice. I think it's... Oh, the Surgeon General would like to chime in, go ahead, Sir.
(MB) Yeah, thank you. I'd just would like to touch a bit on the... the peer support component that Stephanie brought up in her response. Because, as you know, we have a formal peer support program in the CAF, supporting our military members and veterans. And sometimes, those peer supporters, that are people with lived experience from a mental health perspective, are the only access point for some of our members. That's the first point of contact for them, with something that looks like support. And sometimes, they are their entry point to healthcare as well. So, I think that's a very important component of something we have in place to support our members, and I definitely believe it's a key element of how we can support better our people moving forward, and make sure that they have access to the care they need at the right time.
(ET) Thank you for that, Sir. Thank you Vice, thank you Deputy, for your interventions as well. I think folks would like to hear from Wanda as well, from an employee perspective. You know, the different side of the same coin, and maybe the expectations that are present that kind of motivate people to push themselves maybe a little bit too far, and what you can offer our Defence Team colleagues in terms of advice on how to maybe absorb, respond to, or manage those expectations, along with balancing one's own mental health. Wanda?
(WB) I think, like I said earlier, really, you have to reach out to people, and know that you're not alone. We're all in this together, and you just have to find the thing that works for you to be able to decompress. And you have to know that the day starts at a certain time, and it has to end at a certain time, so people aren't overtaxed. I think, also, a good... like a work-life balance at home is a great thing to... to help you with your day, because, really, family is so important. And... yeah, I think just reaching out and finding somebody who you can talk to, or talking to the formalized. Again, the EAP is a great strategy for people when they're at work. They can talk to somebody maybe that they don't know that they can talk openly with, and yeah... So just reach out to people, to somebody that you can relate to, and it can help you to get through your day. Thank you.
(ET) Thank you, Wanda. Vice?
(FA) Yeah, and... And based on what you said, Wanda, and really piling on Marc too, to what you said, and again reflecting back on some of the comments that we're talking about, about finding someone to talk to or a peer, we really also have to not... I'd say devalue, or... and we certainly don't devalue it, but... but state actually seeking professional help is also really good too. It's not about just talking to your friends and your colleagues, but being prepared and aware of how to get, you know, a professional's support. And that that's OK, that's good. You know... That's... that's... that's why we have resources that are there. And so, you don't just have to try to figure it out all on your own and talking to your friends, you actually have... we actually have professional resources that are available to us, and ready to help us through these... these difficult times. And so, that is there too. And Marc, when you mentioned that, it made me also reflect on the fact that I don't just have to try to figure this out with myself and my team, there are other people who are also there to help us through the difficult times that we have. And when you said EAP, Wanda, it... it took me into that zone, and the medical zone as well, so thanks for that.
(ET) And thank you, Vice, for helping to destigmatize accessing professional mental health services, because I think that's a bit of an impediment as well. I'd like to thank our distinguished panelists for taking the time to share their insights with us today. Thank you for taking part today. Thank you, have a great day, and please remember that there are mental health resources in place to assist Defence Team members and their families. So, if you or someone you know needs help, please reach out to the EAP, the Employee Assistance Program, or the Canadian Forces Member Assistance Program at 1-800-268-7708. Thank you.
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