Building a resilient future through mental health | A message from your Mental Health Champions

January 22, 2024 – Defence Stories

January 22 is Bell Let's Talk Day, an annual reminder that tackling the stigma surrounding mental health begins with open and honest dialogue.

This year's campaign focuses on youth mental health. It's important to recognize that hopefulness and life satisfaction are reportedly declining for Canadians between 15-29 years old. The well-being of young people, including those within our Defence community, is crucial to building a resilient future both as a nation and within our organization.

By learning about and openly discussing mental health and wellness within the Defence Team, we can reduce the stigma surrounding mental health struggles and illness, and support a culture in our workplace, homes, and communities where asking for help is safe and encouraged.

With this in mind, we invite all Defence Team members to reflect on the fact that mental health can be fluid and ever-changing depending on the circumstances in a person's life. Someone's mental health can vary widely – even throughout the course of a day – and positive or negative mental health can look different on everyone. Educating yourself on how to recognize the common signs of poor mental health and knowing how to support those in your life is a significant part of reducing the stigma surrounding mental well-being.

Defence Team members can seek support for youth, themselves, and their loved ones through a variety of available resources:

DND employees

• Employee Assistance Program
  • 1-800-663-1142 (TTY: 1-888-384-1152); available 24/7
• Kids Help Phone provides free, confidential, and anonymous mental health supports that are available 24/7 for children, youth, and young adults across Canada
  • By phone: call 1-800-668-6868
  • By text: text the keyword CONNECT to 686868
• 9-8-8, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline

CAF members

• Canadian Forces Member Assistance Program
  • By phone: 1-800-268-7708 (TTY: 1-800-567-5803); available 24/7
  • By chat: Using the password "canada", this is available Monday to Friday 0800-1930 (Eastern time), excluding statutory holidays
  • 9-8-8, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline
• CAF Mental Health Services
  • The Canadian Armed Forces offers exceptional medical and mental health care, support for families, and return-to-work programs
• Local CAF Chaplain services
  • Chaplains provide spiritual care, guidance and counseling. Your local chaplain can provide referrals to other helping professionals such as social workers, psychologists or medical personnel, as needed.
• Kids Help Phone provides a crisis texting service for kids of CAF families
  • By text: text CAFKIDS to 686868
• The Family Information Line serves CAF members, veterans, and their families – both immediate and extended.
  • Within Canada: 1-800-866-4546
  • International: 00-800-771-17722
  • By email: FIL-LIF@cfmws.com
• Military Family Resource Centres are frontline service providers, responsible for connecting military families to a wide range of programs and services.

Supporting mental health today is an investment in tomorrow's Defence Team. This conversation is not just relevant today, but one that needs to be fostered every day.