The Canadian Armed Forces has made a major policy change that it hopes will encourage members with mental illness to come forward for help.
At a panel marking Bell Let's Talk day, the Forces' senior psychiatrist says military members will no longer be prevented from receiving promotion because of any recent medical issue.
Colonel Rakesh Jetly said forces personnel could cope with the old policy if it was a physical problem, but it was a serious obstacle to those with mental health problems.....
"If I was about to be promoted to Colonel, and I had a really bad back ache, I might wait to look after my back until after I got my promotion," Col. Jetly said.
"It made so much sense, what people were doing - but it was an absolute barrier to care."
Lieutenant-Commander Lyn Kingsley, the Forces' Senior Social Worker, told the panel that she's please with the change.
"When you take that barrier away, and you say 'you're not necessarily going to lose your career, and in fact you can still progress in your career,' people are going to be knocking on our doors a lot more," Kingsley said.