F E AT URE
Association of Veteran Surfers – North Coast and our Association with the APPVA This is the story of my journey that began when I found that younger veteran membership to, and active volunteer engagement with community associations was falling. It is my journey and the determination of other veterans which has seen the Association of Veteran Surfers - North Coast buck the trend as our membership grows. It’s a journey that has seen me become a member of the APPVA, and this is significant because I never felt I would join a major ex-service organisation. I don’t surf but was asked by Hunter-Coast AVS President Phil Overton if I knew a surfing veteran that would be interested in starting a chapter in my location, the far north coast of NSW. I looked around and could see a need to fill a social support gap in the local contemporary veteran community who had nothing to bring them together. Surfing, ocean-based therapy and family friendly social engagement and activities are the conduit or the catalyst for the more important mission of reducing suicide and supporting each other through the battles we often face alone when transitioning from defence. Based on my own lived experience of a medical discharge with PTSD and depression from the ADF I felt I had something to offer.
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AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPER
I agreed to at least try and with the help of now Vice President Luke Stewart, who, with a massive amount of humility shelved his own similar organisation “Coastal Veterans” to make this happen. We also had a lot of help from Rachel Kerrigan of Invictus Australia. Nine months later and despite Covid we are a registered charity, have about a dozen members physically active and engaged members, and 66 online vetted
group members. We have developed a supportive network of veterans ranging in age from 20 years old to over 60. I started becoming associated with the APPVA in 2011 because it was doing a lot to recognise contemporary ADF operations. I don’t always agree with the position taken by the APPVA, but I am not going to disassociate from a group just because I don’t agree. It’s healthy to have alternative points of view for balance because we all know what organisations of “yes men” can do. What has really impressed me about the APPVA was that on a Friday I alerted The Vice Chairman, Ian Lindgren about a serving veteran in a vulnerable mental health position. Ian and Chairman Rob Woods went in to assist the serving veteran at the highest levels in DVA and the ADF, and by the following Tuesday the situation was resolved. Neither I nor the serving veteran were members of the APPVA. This is totally different approach to other ESOs and I know that advocacy for younger veterans
