DVA’s Veteran Support Officers assisting ADF personnel
DVA works in partnership with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to improve the support provided to all ADF members (permanent and Reserve forces) during military service, and importantly, when navigating back into civilian life.
From mid-2019, DVA’s Veteran Support Officers (VSOs) have been working across more than 56 ADF bases across Australia. VSOs are located permanently at major bases and routinely visit smaller ones.
Over the 2020–21 financial year, VSOs supported 19,563 ADF member enquiries, delivered 372 presentations, completed 3,696 stakeholder engagements, and helped 5,461 members go online. VSOs are achieving this level of engagement through very strong working relationships with Defence Command, medical and transition support teams.
VSOs primarily support serving veterans through education, explaining how to engage with DVA and providing expert advice at the right time on the health and wellbeing services available from the department. In particular, VSOs can show ADF members how to use MyService to submit claims for initial liability, and can assist with understanding what evidence is needed to support a claim. Importantly, this VSO support is also available to ADF command, enabling informed decisions to best support their staff, which may also include working with ex-service organisations (ESOs) from time to time.
VSO support is delivered in agreement with Defence senior leadership, using a tiered approach:
- Tier 1 is focused on education, enabling veterans to use DVA’s MyService application to navigate their own DVA business at the time of their service injury.
- Tier 2 is guided assistance for members who may be medically downgraded or who have some complexities associated with their DVA business.
- Tier 3 is a DVA case-managed support service for transitioning ADF members with high needs or complex matters requiring addition technical expertise, coordination and/or a variety of support services.
A key component of the model is a strong working relationship with all levels of Defence, ESOs and other external advocacy groups.
Early engagement with DVA for all service-caused injuries is critical to improving the support options available. Don’t wait until you’re about to leave the ADF to become a client of DVA. The earlier you get in touch with us the better. And we don’t mind why you’re leaving, whether it’s voluntarily, or through medical or administrative discharge.
If you, a family member or friend is serving in the ADF and are in need of assistance or advice about DVA, please email VSO [at] DVA.gov.au (VSO[at]DVA[dot]gov[dot]au) and one of our friendly staff will be in touch to provide support.
VSO Team Leader South-East Queensland, Anthony Fuster (left) with Assistant Director ADF Support Section, Jason Johnson