Veterans' Health Week 2020

Staying socially connected with family, friends and the local community was the theme for Veterans’ Health Week (VHW), which officially wrapped up on 1 November.
 

Staying socially connected with family, friends and the local community was the theme for Veterans’ Health Week (VHW), which officially wrapped up on 1 November. 

Social connection is one of the most important aspects of mental health and wellbeing. Last year obviously saw the way we usually connect with each other badly disrupted, so VHW was a great way to help get things back on track. 

Members of the veteran community took part in a record number of events across Australia, with a wide variety of activities taking place online. This gave people the opportunity to connect with each other around the country and develop new skills in reaching out and establishing virtual connections with various events ranging from virtual fitness challenges to resin-pouring workshops, axe-throwing, horse riding, through to deliveries of delicious food packages.   

Many organisers made sure members of their local veteran community were involved when designing their events. Thanks to all of them for their hard work and creativity in designing their events. We received almost 400 applications from event organisers. Among these were several new organisations who benefited from the funding available. We hope they continue their VHW journey into 2021 and beyond.

We received a lot of positive feedback from the event organisers and participants about the streamlining and simplification of the application and acquittal process that made everything straightforward and easy to complete.

By attending VHW events, veterans and their families can connect with a range of programs, initiatives and supports available through DVA.

Veterans’ Health Week 2021 is in the planning stages, so please check back again soon for more information on this year’s dates and theme.

Participants enjoying axe throwing hosted by Buddy Up Australia, in Brisbane.

Contact DVA

For more information, contact DVA via one of the following channels:

Call 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372) and ask for the VHW National Coordinator or email vhw [at] dva.gov.au (vhw[at]dva[dot]gov[dot]au). If you would like to discuss event ideas for VHW2020, contact your local DVA VHW contact. Each state and territory has a DVA VHW Coordinator who is available to discuss any aspect of VHW.