Younger Veterans Contemporary Needs Forum
Younger Veterans – Contemporary Needs Forum
Meeting Summary
The Forum convened in Canberraon Wednesday 13 December 2017.
Discussions covered a range of topics.
The Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS) Update
The VVCS has been undertaking a range of activities in response to recent reviews and community feedbackin order to strengthen client accessibility and service delivery responsiveness. These activities include coordinated care; a focus on families; harnessing enabling technologies; and building evidencedbased research.
Government response to Senate Enquiry
The Government has committed $31 million to five new initiatives that will further support the mental health of current and former ADF members, and their families. The Government Response is available on the Australian Parliament House website.
Health and Community Services Update
The Forum was updated on ongoing mental and social health initiatives including the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme and mental health update.
The Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme is the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia that examines the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members.
The mental health update highlighted the launch of the Centenary of ANZAC Centrein September 2017, which will function as the nation’s leading centre of research in veteran and military mental health.
Rehabilitation and Support Update
Updates on the Advocacy Training and Development Program (ATDP) and Educational Assistance were provided.
The ATDP Capability Framework Management Group continues to review the Welfare training package to increase the focus on the needs of younger veterans.
The tertiary education policy guidelines were updated to clarify when retraining and further education should be considered appropriate for an individual veteran undertaking a DVA rehabilitation program.
Transformation and Veteran Centric Reform (VCR) Showcase
Members were provided a demonstration of DVA’s new online claims processing portal, MyService. This portalstreamlines and simplifies the way veterans make DVA claims, significantly reducing waiting times.
Legislation Workshop
The Forum received an update on the first legislation workshop with stakeholders held on 9November 2017. A range of ideas were discussed, including the need for a case management model, better promotion of the full range of rehabilitation services available and inconsistencies across the Acts in how they deal with the same issue.
The Forum noted theSafety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 (DRCA) commenced on 12 October 2017 and the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2017 passed the Parliament on 15 November 2017.
Principal Medical Adviser Update
The Forum was updated on current medical projects by Dr Ian Gardner, Principal Medical Adviser. These included a focus on the improvements as part of VCR to dispatch automatic letters requesting treating specialists to provide input into more than one condition; and streamlining conditions and automatic acceptance of a claim.
Member Submissions
The Forum heard four member submissions from The Warrior’s Return, Remembrance Foundation represented by Modern Soldier and Australian Veterans Alliance.
The member submissions addressed:
- The proposal to duplicate the Oasis Shopfront currently located in Townsville to additional locations;
- Non-Liability Health Care initiative;
- Veteran Suicide Register; and
- PAYG Changes.
Guest Presentations
The Forum heard two guest presentations:
- Professor David Forbes from Phoenix Australia spoke to the Forumabout the Rapid Exposure Supporting Trauma Recovery (RESTORE) Trial. This trial will investigate whether an intensive delivery of prolonged exposure therapy, involving 10 sessions over a two week period, will deliver outcomes which are comparable to standard prolonged exposure treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The presentation also included The Centenary of ANZAC Centre and the broader research agenda.
- Mr Garth Callendar from the NSW State Government presented an update on the success of the NSW Veterans Employment Program.
The next Forum will meet in March2018.