Australian veterans and their families are the focus of a new Churchill Fellowship report published today, which highlights concerns around the treatment of families supporting veterans, with the invisible wounds resulting from service to our country.
Churchill Fellow and Legacy Brisbane CEO, Brendan Cox who travelled to the US, Canada and the UK on his Fellowship, shares his recommendations to improve the current fractured and disjointed care available to the Australian veteran community and their families.
“We need to consider a more collaborative services approach that allows veterans and their families to enter a single front door. This is so they can share their story and get coordinated support from a multi-disciplinary team of clinical and non-clinical support staff,” said Brendan.
Brendan’s report outlines a new model of care proposed with an emphasis on the need for united and collaborative support to whole families in trauma, where they have a ‘single front door’ to seek multi agency support from both the clinical and non-clinical service providers.
Brendan draws upon his own lived experience as a veteran. He enlisted in the Australian Army as a soldier in 1988. He served as a paratrooper prior to attending the Royal Military College (RMC) Duntroon. Brendan graduated from RMC in June 1991 and returned to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps.
Over the next 25 years Brendan served in a variety of Regimental, Training and Staff Appointments in the Australian Army.