A volunteer organisation is reaching out to former service members who might be contemplating suicide, by monitoring their social media pages.
Overwatch Australia has more than 4500 volunteers across the nation who are all former or current serving members of the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army or the Royal Australian Air Force.
When one of its page admins sees a Facebook post made by a veteran that is worrying, they deploy their nearest volunteer (who have undertaken applied suicide intervention skills training) to investigate the situation.
Overwatch national coordinator Marc Kirwan, who moved to Esperance in 1994 after nine years in a Peacetime army, was an active member of RAR Overwatch – a group brought about by a spate of suicides within the veteran community.
It then expanded – to increase its target population – and become Overwatch Australia, in 2015.
Overwatch has the reach and capacity to provide “boots on the ground” support to most parts of Australia, within 30 minutes of confirming the location of a targeted client.
Kirwan said there had been about 290 veteran suicides since 1986.
"Since May 2015, I have documents of 125 incidents that we have responded to Australia-wide,” he said. "Anecdotally, we get about 250 incidents that we have responded to nationwide."
The organisation recently became nationally incorporated to qualify for state and federal grants.
"Unlike a majority of the other service organisations, we go to the people – we don't wait for them to come to us. We are [similar to] the ambulance service of the ex-defence force of Australia."
Kirwan said there was a need to have some form of easing service members back into civilian society.
“In the past, serving members have been reticent to seek help within defence for mental help concerns,” he said. “The perception is that if they ask for help, then that is the end of their military career.
“In recent times, defence has tried to correct this perception, but it still remains a real worry within the lower ranks.”
Kirwan said it was a demographic that rarely chose to ask for help.
"They're the solution to all the problems – if then can't find the solutions themselves, then they see themselves as a failure.”
The military is good at making soldiers. It hasn't been too good at helping its members reintegrate back into society when their service has ended.
- Marc Kirwan, Overwatch Australia national coordinator
Manjimup based volunteer Ben Enkelman said he had been fortunate to have received only one call out in his two years with the organisation.
“A member [in Pemberton] had had some domestic issues with his family and was having a bit of a hard time of things and he put some things on Facebook that weren’t very good,” Enkelman said.
As he was three hours away at the time, Overwatch mobilised local police to carry out a welfare check on the veteran in need.
Enkelman joined the organisation as he was sick of the lack of support coming from the government to veterans when they needed help.
“The guys who are suffering have unique experiences and have lived a very unique sort of lifestyle in quite a difficult occupation,” he said.
“To have someone there that can talk to them who has some understanding of what they’ve experienced, it can only be a good thing.”
Department of Veterans’ Affairs mental health advisor Dr Stephanie Hodson said the Australian Government supported activities that raised awareness and reduced the stigma associated with mental health among those who had served in the Australian Defence Force.
“Tackling mental health challenges is a pillar of the government’s policy to support veterans and their families,” she said.
On August 11, the Prime Minister, Minister for Health, and the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs jointly announced a review of suicide and self-harm prevention services available to veterans and ADF members.
The National Mental Health Commission, in conjunction with clinical experts and a reference group comprising of current and former members of the ADF, will analyse the effectiveness of existing suicide and self-harm prevention services.
Hodson said the DVA spent about $182 million a year on supporting the mental health needs of its clients.
“This includes funding for online mental health information and support; general practitioner, psychologist, psychiatric and social work services; pharmaceuticals; in-patient and out-patient hospital treatment; and services through the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service,” she said. “In addition to this, the 2016-17 Budget included $1m for suicide awareness and prevention workshops and to pilot an alternative approach to suicide prevention in the veteran community.”
Current and former serving ADF members and their families can access free and confidential support through the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service – a specialist, nationwide support service that provides free, confidential counselling and group programs for war and service related mental health and wellbeing conditions.
For more information about Overwatch Australia, visit overwatchaustralia.org.au.
If you or someone you love is in crisis or needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.