FCMHW PROGRAM: Veteran suicide: Men, Health, Service
Contact: Ben Wadham
Overview:
Men constitute 85 per cent of serving personnel. 93 per cent of Australian veteran suicides are completed by men. Since 2001, there have been 717 deaths by Veterans. 84 deaths occurred in 2019 alone. Australian male veterans aged up to 39 years have a suicide rate 1.5x the national average for men of the same age (34-39/100 000). This excludes veterans who attempt to take their own lives. In Australia, there has been no independent holistic-based research on male veteran suicide. Male veteran suicide can be conceptualised in terms of service and post-service or transition. Service-related suicides can be contributed to by operational trauma and moral injury.
Prof Ben Wadham has conducted several media interviews on veteran suicide in the mainstream media and contributed to the Conversation exploring a Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide. Transition is a challenging time for male veterans seeking to make a new life, experiencing significant upheaval and potentially addressing physical and mental health challenges, particularly for those whose role expectations of being ‘a soldier’ change unexpectedly. Transition includes successfully navigating key social domains such as education, employment, housing, justice, health, and family and communities. Failure to navigate these domains can exacerbate issues such as social isolation, family breakdown, substance abuse and conflict.
In the year since this program was funded by FCMHW at Flinders University, the Australian government has called a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. We therefore propose to continue with our program to formally define the relationship between the ideals of manhood, the impacts of military training and service and their relationship with poor mental health or moral injury leading to suicide attempt or death.
We will continue to collect the stories/accounts of male veteran suicide from families or survivors, and use this to identify i) the service-related contexts, ii) post service-related contexts, iii) the family and social support elements, iv) the institutional support elements, and v) mental and physical health elements of men’s suicide or attempted suicide.
We will also identify how the Department of Defence and DVA services conceptualise, represent and operationalise (i.e. policies, processes, and infrastructure) veteran suicide and suicide prevention. Education strategies will be formulated for serving and former members, a suicide/transition inventory to identify at risk personnel/veterans, and it will make recommendations on the current policy context around addressing mental health while serving and after separation. This context includes transition services, and the developing relationship between separated personnel and DVA and the veteran sector.
The program will yield a series of videos co-badged with the FCMHW to inform government, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and the veteran escort on the issues specific to male suicide in the military.
This program aims to result in:
· Submission of a report of findings in writing and face-to-face presentation to the DVA and Defence for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
· Videos of testimonies, men’s health information and services for veterans and families/forces/services (Co-badged with FCMHW).
· Improve DVA and Department of Defence health care services for male veterans vulnerable to suicide.