Defence launches mental health review
March 10, 2008 by planetultramarathon
Defence launches mental health review
The Federal Government says concerns that soldiers are not receiving adequate mental health support have prompted a review into Defence health services.
There are claims the services are under-resourced and that as many as 10 per cent of veterans suffer trauma problems long after leaving the armed forces.
The review will be headed by an independent mental health expert and is expected to report back later this year.
Defence Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon says he wants to make sure the system and resources are in place to properly manage the situation.
“It’s clear to us that there may well be some gaps and that people are falling through the cracks and we need to … get a review done so we can really appreciate exactly what is happening at the moment,” he said.
“We’re concerned that there are ADF (Australian Defence Force) members who may not be getting the best care.
“We’re also concerned that we have a system and the resources to properly manage the mental health of serving personnel throughout their Defence careers and in their transition to civilian life after they’ve left Defence.”
Returned Services League (RSL) national president Bill Crews says he supports the review and is particularly concerned with the transition period that soldiers go through when they leave the Defence Force.
“People do fall through the cracks at that time,” he said.
“Some of these conditions do not manifest themselves for quite some time after they leave the service and then they don’t know where to turn for help.
“Help is there but it’s accessing the help that is the issue. We’d like to make sure that that’s smoothed out and that people do know where to go for help and they seek it.”
The Australian Defence Association has welcomed the review.
The Association’s Neil James says post-traumatic stress is a long-term problem and more needs to be done to assist those with mental health issues.
“The review’s a good idea for the simple reason that it’ll stop the constant chatter and back chatter and continual debate about it and actually get to the nub of some of the problems,” he said.
“But like many reviews, it probably won’t solve every problem but it will advance us further than we are now.”
Radically new ways need to be found to help military personnel deal with the stress of their work. Recently, we had a marine on emotional health specialist bigwhitewall.com who was feeling suicidal as a result of a tour he had in Iraq in which he saved a fellow soldier’s life by killing the sniper that was firing at him. More readily accessible services are needed on the Internet which provide anonymity as people often do not want others to know that they are struggling or fear being judged or misunderstood. Military personnel are classic examples of this. The marine who came to us stepped back from the brink of taking his own life. There are many who do not.
I think mental health is not developed high technological enough.
PS: For a fun way to play with mental health read my website (Music).