3. Crisis Guide – for Ex-Service Organisations, Welfare and Pension Officers and Veteran Community Volunteers

Duty of Care

This section stresses the need for you to understand your duty of care to veterans and family members who may seek your help.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs cannot offer you legal advice on these matters.  Rather, you should approach your ex-service organisation.

However, we want you to know there are risks involved in dealing with a crisis, particularly if your advice results in harm to an individual.  You should be aware of your limitations in abilities, skills and resources and acknowledge that you are not in the role of a treating health professional.

The most basic rule is that you must take reasonable care not to cause any further harm to the individual.

Confidentiality

The veterans and family members you work with are entitled to have their affairs respected in a confidential manner.  This means that you should not disclose or share nay details that are discussed with anyone else, unless you have the individual’s personal agreement to do so.

Caring for yourself

Dealing with crisis situations can at times be stressful and draining for you as well as the person you are trying to assist.  So caring for yourself is important if you are going to be helpful to others.  Often when people are in crisis it is naturally difficult for them to see the effect of their behaviour on other people, even those who are trying to help them.  Remaining calm, being clear about what you can and cannot do and knowing when to seek more advice or assistance are important to protect you against the excess emotional pain or demands that the veteran or his / her family are sharing with you.

Documentation

You will need to keep details of assistance you have given, both for the Departments’ and your own records – it is important that you do this as soon as possible after the crisis event.  Data collection sheets are provided for this purpose. 

Crisis Relief data collection sheet (PDF 343Kb)

You will need to note:

  • The date the crisis occurred
  • Is the client a veteran, Vietnam veteran, partner or child of a veteran?
  • Type of crisis – does the client fall into Crisis Category Group 1, 2 or 3?
  • Was the client referred to VVCS, Veterans Line, Emergency Service or Community Services?
  • Any further comments.

When your data collection sheet is completed, please forward it to your local VVCS centre.

Outstanding DVA claims

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs should be contacted if a veteran experiencing a crisis has outstanding claims for pension or treatment benefits.  It may be possible to expedite the processing of the claims and thereby avoid further stress for the veteran.

What if a veteran's situation changes?

Veterans you have referred on to emergency / professional services (eg. alcohol detox units, mental health triage, police, etc) are eligible to be re-assessed for assistance under the Crisis Assistance Program (CAP) when their situations have been stabilised.

Examples:

  1. A veteran in crisis is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs and needs to ‘dry out’ – whether in a detox unit or some other place.  Once the veteran is stabilised (no longer under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs) he/she can be re-assessed for assistance under the CAP.
  2. A veteran in crisis requires medical / mental health assistance.  Once the veteran has been stabilised through medical / mental health treatment, he/she can be re-assessed for assistance under the CAP.
  3. A veteran is in crisis and it has been necessary for police to be involved.  Once the situation has been stabilised he/she can be re-assessed for assistance under the CAP.

If you find yourself in a similar situation you will need to get the veteran to contact VVCS or Veterans Line for a re-assessment, once his/her situation has stabilised.