This years Veterans’ Health Week theme is Mental Wellness. Mental wellness is essential for overall health and wellbeing which can strongly influence our physical wellbeing and social connections with family, friends and community.

Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel, Darren Chester said supporting veterans’ mental health was a top priority for the Government and Veteran Health Week was just one opportunity for veteran and community organisations to get involved.

“At any age, good mental health is crucial to your overall health and wellbeing and plays a key role in being able to overcome life’s challenges,” Mr Chester said.

“Mental health is everyone’s business – families, friends, employers, community organisations, governments and the ex-service community.”

The Australian Government is dedicated to supporting the mental health of veterans and has provided more than $175,000 in funding to assist community groups and ex-service organisations to host events that will raise awareness and promote mental wellness this Veterans’ Health Week.

Queensland Alliance for Mental Health (QAMH) Acting CEO Jacklyn Whybrow supports the growing need to invest in programs such as this to build an evidence-based, accountable and responsive mental health system.

“Every week a young veteran will take their own life and that statistic is devasting given how much they have sacrificed for their country,” Mrs Whybrow said.

“As a community we are getting better at highlighting concerns on Queensland’s increasing rate of death by suicide and that’s why our members are working towards the states priority to reduce the suicide rate by 50 per cent by 2026.”

The Queensland Suicide Prevention Plan is backed by a State Budget 2019-20 investment of $80.1 million over four years for suicide prevention initiatives.

Veterans’ Health Week kicks off tomorrow and runs until Sunday 3 November 2019.

For more information, resources and to find events near you visit the Veterans’ Health Week Page on the DVA website.