![Defence and Veterans Legal Service's Steven Baras-Miller and Karla Randle, Ballarat Veterans Assistance Centre's Andrew Hamilton and Legacy veterans liaison officer Adam Kent unite to raise greater awareness for veterans community support. Picture by Adam Trafford Defence and Veterans Legal Service's Steven Baras-Miller and Karla Randle, Ballarat Veterans Assistance Centre's Andrew Hamilton and Legacy veterans liaison officer Adam Kent unite to raise greater awareness for veterans community support. Picture by Adam Trafford](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/XBHRDThPr8rZ8LC4FzPP7b/22cfd6bf-a192-4d09-9f1b-24c5f531ab11.jpg/r0_0_4741_3150_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THERE is a need to break the perception of veterans as only being old, frail diggers, if we are to better help all returned servicemen and women in our community, veterans advocates say. Often, young veterans struggle themselves with the concept.
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Legacy veteran liaison officer Adam Kent said supporting those who have served is about more than buying an Anzac badge. Mr Kent said the best the community do was try to understand, particularly with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide underway.
Mr Kent and Ballarat Veterans Assistance Centre secretary Andrew Hamilton said understanding was vital in the ripple effects service could have on extended family members, including the often-overlooked aunts and uncles and siblings.
But understanding was also about helping to empowering veterans in changing perceptions.
"I'm big in myth-breaking on veterans," Mr Kent said. "Veterans have a lot of great skills but they often don't know where they fit in the community and community often doesn't know where they fit...It's about taking responsibility as well and realising we're part of the community and have something to give and opening discussions on the benefits for community as well."
Mr Kent and Mr Hamilton were both panellists for a Defence and Veterans Legal Service-led event in Ballarat on Sunday afternoon ahead of a movie screening for Living. The film, starring Bill Nighy, is about a public servant who in the wake of WWII receives a terminal diagnosis and for the first time in his life starts to live to the fullest.
Both Mr Kent and Mr Hamilton said there was a greater need to connect grassroots organisations in Ballarat to better assist veterans and their families. Mr Kent said strong networks raised community awareness for veterans, such in Warrnambool where he lives.
Ballarat, in comparison to Warrnambool, was a "bit disjointed" but Mr Hamilton said Ballarat Veterans Assistance Centre was actively working to change this and foster closer connections with support groups.
"We want to be a safe place for veterans and we triage a lot, because we are not a big group," Mr Hamilton said. "We do have links with Military Brotherhood Military Motorcycle Club and they support us. We have links with the RSL in different levels and the TPI injury association, Legacy as well to try and help connect people up.
"It's important we all connect to reach all veterans. Isolated vets doesn't mean they're all not working, they need help and can help each other in different ways."
Mr Kent said social connections was another tool for mental health, drawing on peer support and learning from each other. He said this included finding ways to give back and actively take part in the community and, instead of feeling isolated and feeling they "deserve" better help, finding ways to respectfully and assertively get help.
"When I've talked with veterans and family members, often they get stuck in a veteran bubble but they're in the real world again and have to be in the community," Mr Kent said. "...I had a guy who was 35 , totally and permanently incapacitated and bored. His wife was a teacher and he wanted to study but thought he couldn't do anything because he was injured.
"Lots of veterans don't realise they are more than veterans - they are sons, daughters, partners, community members and valuable assets to community if they find where they fit in."
Mr Kent knows firsthand. He found his purpose with Legacy after a decade-long journey, which included hitting rock bottom, to find where he fit.
IN OTHER NEWS
Legacy and Ballarat Veterans Assistance Centre are encouraging and guiding veterans and their families in telling their stories in the Royal Commission .
Mr Kent and Mr Hamilton said loved ones of veterans, including children and siblings, were just as important in sharing on their own terms their trauma and experience of having a loved one serve.
Applications for private submissions close in April. This allows for one-on-one, anonymous meetings for the Royal Commission. Written submissions are being accepted until October.
If you or someone you know is in need of crisis support, phone Lifeline 13 11 14.
Soldier On: 1300 620 380
For more about Ballarat Veterans Assistance Centre: bvac.net.au