Findings from the 2024-2025 Client Experience Survey

Background

The Defence Community Support and Resource Centre (DCSRC), formerly known as the Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre (SMSRC), launched a Client Experience Survey from September 2024 through March 2025. Its purpose was to gather meaningful insights into client experiences and identify opportunities for shaping and improving our services. This Summary Report provides an overview of what we heard, what we learned, and what we are doing as part of our commitment to continued enhancement of our services. 

About the survey

As a key pillar of our community consultation approach, the survey was created to gather qualitative and quantitative perspectives from clients who accessed our services.

Clients could access it through our website, our social media, or by receiving a referral from one of our service providers. The survey used an anonymous questionnaire with respondents self-reporting they have used at least one of our services. It included simple rating questions using a five-point scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree) as well as open boxes where people could write their own comments. We received completed surveys from 192 participants. See Annex A for additional information regarding survey design.

Demographics

Most client respondents indicated they were:

• current CAF members (61%)
• former CAF members/Veterans (19%)
• current or former DND public service employees (16%)

Over half accessed the Centre as someone who had directly been affected by sexual misconduct. Others included supervisors, managers, or chains of command.

What we heard

24/7 Support Line

The 24/7 support line provides confidential support, information, guidance on how to support others, and referrals to care and service providers.

Most clients indicated that they were treated with respect, while most shared they could reach the support line when they needed help, and received service within a reasonable timeframe.

Half of the clients indicated their situation could have been better understood. Others felt that they also would have benefitted from receiving more options that better met their needs.

Response and Support Coordination (RSC) Program 

Case coordinators provide information and referrals to resources and services, advocacy, accompaniments, assistance with workplace arrangements, and other practical assistance. 

Many clients felt they were treated with respect and most indicated they received a timely service. They also noted that it was easy to access RSC services when they needed support, and that their situation was well understood.

Clients also felt they would have benefitted from more options that better met their needs.

Peer Support Program

Peers provide peer support services for people affected by sexual misconduct or military sexual trauma during their service or in their workplace.

Just over half of clients felt they were treated with respect and that it was easy to access the program. Feedback also highlighted opportunities to strengthen peer connections and expand available services to better meet clients’ needs.

Independent Legal Assistance (ILA)

Legal assistance facilitates access to legal services for individuals who have experienced sexual misconduct within the CAF/DND.  

As only the reimbursement component of the ILA program was launched in May 2023, a small number of clients had used our services at the time of our survey. As a result, respondent rates were too low to draw conclusions about potential program changes.

Website and Social Media

Most individuals who accessed the website indicated the information met their needs.

Fewer than half of those who accessed social media noted that the information met their needs.

Over half trusted the information provided and felt that the website was easy to navigate.

Some clients indicated that the information on social media could be improved to better meet their needs.

What we learned

Over half of the clients who completed the survey stated that they would be comfortable seeking our services again and would be comfortable referring someone they care about. Clients felt that we protected their privacy and confidentiality, and that we help and support those who have experienced sexual misconduct.

We learned that we need to make our services easier to access, especially for clients with disabilities, and former CAF and Veteran clients. Our services do not always match client needs, and we need a better understanding of military experiences and more culturally relevant supports. We also learned that information about our services is not always clear. Our website and communication approach can be more client-centered.

What we are working on

Building on feedback received through the survey, several initiatives are underway to strengthen our services. For example,

• Community consultations for the 24/7 support line and the RSC are currently being planned and are expected to begin in early summer 2026, with the goal of more accurately identifying areas for improvement.
• We are strengthening the Peer Support program by updating our website and registration process to make them more peer‑centred and easier to navigate. Recruitment efforts have also focused on increasing the diversity of Peer Supporters to better meet a wide range of participant needs.
• Independent Legal Assistance continued to broaden its offerings, expanding direct legal services in May 2025.
• We have streamlined forms and reduced administrative requirements to simplify access to group services.
• Over the course of this fiscal year, we will undertake a third-party evaluation of communication tools, products and practices to strengthen clarity, accessibility, and impact, and to guide continuous improvement in how we engage our audiences and client groups.

We are grateful for the invaluable feedback provided by our clients. These results affirm the value of our trauma-informed, client-centered approach and provide a strong foundation for shaping our services and programs.

Annex A: Survey design

In this report, the term “clients” refers to people who said they had used at least one DCSRC program, service, or resource. Participation in the Client Experience Survey was voluntary, and 192 clients chose to complete it. Since clients self-selected into the survey sample (i.e., a non-probability sampling approach was used), findings cannot be interpreted as fully representative of the DCSRC client population. In the survey, “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” responses are grouped together to summarize the overall level of agreement with statements about the quality of the services they received and their perceptions of the DCSRC overall.

The findings are being used in combination with other sources of feedback to guide further exploration into areas of improvement for the DCSRC.