About and Contact

Get free peer support

Use the form below to request free, one-to-one volunteer peer support, subject to availability. You may also report a broken link, suggest a correction, or request information that is not yet covered.

Helpful details to include

• a short description of the administrative issue;

• the next deadline, if known;

• the type of help you are seeking; and

• a safe way to contact you.

Please do not submit classified, protected, medical, or highly personal records through this form. Start with a brief summary. If follow-up is possible, an appropriate way to share information can be discussed.

This service provides general information and peer support. It does not provide legal advice, legal opinions, representation, or mental health counselling, and it does not create a lawyer-client or other professional relationship.

About CAF Advocacy Project

CAF Advocacy Project is independent, volunteer-led, and grounded in lived experience. Its purpose is practical: help members find the rules, organize what happened, ask better questions, and advocate for fair, accountable decisions with less confusion and isolation.

Why I created it

During my service, my work exposed me to complex and consequential matters that reached senior levels of the CAF. I saw how policies were interpreted in practice and how administrative decisions could affect people’s careers, health, dignity, and trust. I also saw inconsistencies and raised concerns when I believed people were being harmed. That advocacy brought ostracism and professional isolation.

At the same time, I was navigating administrative processes affecting my own career and well-being. Finding and reconciling fragmented policies required sustained effort while I was already under significant stress. That experience taught me how much clear information, careful records, and timely support matter.

Lived experience and recovery

My perspective is also shaped by serious trauma and mental-health injury. After an extremely traumatic incident, I was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. I experienced nightmares, intense physical and mental reactions, and periods of feeling disconnected from myself and my surroundings. Cognitive Processing Therapy, patient medication work, and professional support helped me regain stability.

In April 2025, another traumatic incident caused a severe recurrence. During the hardest period, I lived with persistent suicidal thoughts and sometimes relied on crisis lines several times a day to stay safe. Healing remains ongoing and non-linear.

My psychologist has described part of this journey as post-traumatic growth: not an absence of pain, but the development of meaning alongside it. The experience deepened my empathy, sharpened my awareness of systemic barriers, and strengthened my commitment to volunteer service and peer support.

What I offer—and what I do not

• Compassionate listening from someone with relevant lived experience

• Help locating official policy and organizing a timeline or records

• Support preparing questions, grievances, responses and thinking through available processes

• Respect for your choices, pace, privacy, and autonomy

I am not acting as a lawyer, representative, clinician, or agent of DND/CAF. I cannot guarantee an outcome. Peer support is subject to availability, and you remain responsible for your decisions.

A note on moral injury

If moral injury is part of what you are carrying, a structured moral-injury workbook used with appropriate psychological guidance was personally helpful to me. Please use clinical resources with a qualified professional who understands your circumstances.

“Wisdom is a blessing, even when pain is its teacher.”

If this project helps someone feel better informed, better supported, or less alone, it is doing what I created it to do.