The Albanese Labor Government is committed to supporting the mental health and welfare of ADF personnel, veterans and families and is expanding access to Open Arms counselling services across Brisbane.
Assistant Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, officially opened two new Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling offices in Stafford and Mount Gravatt today.
The expansion of mental health support services, including access to free counselling, group programs, and peer support, is a further boost to support for more than 60,000 veterans and their families across the Brisbane area.
Specialist staff, many of whom are veterans or veteran family members themselves, will be based at the new offices to provide military-aware and trauma-informed care.
“Brisbane is home to one of Australia’s largest veteran communities and Open Arms is the Australia’s leading specialist mental health service for veterans and their families,” Minister Thistlethwaite said.
“Our veterans sacrifice much for the service of this country, they put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. This is an unpayable debt, but veterans can rest assured that Open Arms is there for them when they need support.”
“I would like to thank the Open Arms staff for their unwavering support of veterans and their families, and I look forward to seeing this vital work expanded through these new offices,” Minister Thistlethwaite said.Background
Open Arms was established by Vietnam veterans as the Vietnam Veterans’ Counselling Service.Since 1982, Open Arms has provided more than 2 million free mental health sessions to over 300,000 veterans and their family members.
