The family factor

This study recognises this can be complex, particularly when reluctance to seek help adds to the strain and conflict.

While some veterans share their experience of work-related trauma with those closest to them, others isolate and try to deal with stress alone to protect their families. Poorer outcomes highlight the cost of overlooking treatment and opportunities for earlier intervention and support, and emphasise the need for families to be included and supported in their support.

“Families need early information, support and recognition of their role in encouraging help seeking. We found clear disparities between family and veterans’ perspectives regarding mental health concerns, with clear barriers connected to the very nature of military culture – stoicism, stigma and fear of being perceived by themselves and others as weak, as well career concerns, and a general lack of self-recognition of the need for help’ says lead researcher Professor Sharon Lawn. “Our research highlights the extent of non-treatment seeking in this population, missed opportunities for early intervention and the need for greater support to families to promote help-seeking’.

This study of veteran family help-seeking relationships was strengthened through its mixed methods approach, with a unique linking of data for  1217 veterans and their families  from the National Family Wellbeing Study and the Mental Health Wellbeing Transition Study, and in-depth interviews with families which highlighted moral distress experienced by families attempting to seek-help for their veteran family members’ mental health. 

Read the contributing articles here:

‘Families’ experiences of supporting Australian veterans to seek help for a mental health problem: a linked data analysis of national surveys with families and veterans’ (2023) by Elaine Waddell, Pilar Rioseco, Miranda Van Hooff, Galina Daraganova, David Lawrence, Wavne Rikkers, Louise Roberts, Tiffany Beks, Tiffany Sharp, Ben Wadham and Sharon Lawn. Published in the Journal of Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2023.2182418

Lawn, S., Waddell, E., Rikkers, W., Roberts, L., Beks, T., Lawrence, D., Rioseco, P., Sharp, T., Wadham, B., Daraganova, G., Van Hooff, M. (2022) Families’ experiences of supporting Australian veterans and emergency service first responders (ESFRs) to seek help for mental health problems. Health and Social Care in the Community, 30(6), e4522-e4534. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13856

Lawn, S., Waddell, E., Rikkers, W., Roberts, L., Beks, T., Lawrence, D., Rioseco, P., Sharp, T., Wadham, B., Daraganova, G., Van Hooff, M. (2024) Families’ experiences of moral distress as a consequence of supporting Australian military Veterans and public safety personnel to seek help for a mental health problem: a conceptual model Journal of Military and Veteran Family Health (JMVFH). 30(6): e4522–e4534. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13856

Lived Experience and Co-design Lead for Open Door, Professor Sharon Lawn.