The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released three reports examining suicide, intentional self-harm, and accessing health services among the veteran community.
Commissioned by DVA, this research will continue to inform future policy and programs, including responses to the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
The reports include the eighth Annual Suicide Monitoring (ASM) report on defence and veteran suicide: Serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members: suicide monitoring 1997 to 2023.
The ASM report provides information on suicide deaths among ADF members who have served at least one day of service since 1 January 1985 and have died by suicide between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2023.
The ASM report revealed that the suicide rate for ex-serving males and females has been decreasing in recent years.
The report reveals suicide is the leading cause of death for younger ex-serving members. Also, men who separate for involuntary medical reasons have higher rates of suicide than those who separate voluntarily.
Two other reports released examine the use of health care services.
The report Health service use in the year before and after intentional self-harm among ex-serving ADF members revealed:
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Ex-serving members admitted for self-harm used more mental health services after admission than in the year before.
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Mortality among ex-serving members admitted for self-harm was 9 times higher than those admitted for non-injury reasons.
The report Health service use in the year before death by suicide among ex-serving ADF members revealed:
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Most (85%) of ex-serving ADF members who died by suicide accessed at least one health service in their last year of life.
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Ex-serving members who died by suicide used 76% more health services than other ex-serving members.
The Australian Government is committed to promoting the health and wellbeing veterans following their service, including preventing future deaths by suicide and improving mental health and wellbeing supports.
This includes turning to evidence-based policy and program design and leveraging expertise in the research sector to improve outcomes for veterans and families.
For more details on the findings and to download the reports, visit AIHW.gov.au
Help is available
If you or someone you know is in danger and needs immediate assistance, call 000
Veterans and their families can access support through Open Arms – Veterans and Families Counselling Service, free, confidential support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 1800 011 046
Suicide intervention training
To equip members of the veteran community with increased skills and knowledge to recognise those at risk of suicide, provide support, in-act interventions, and enable connection to mental health support, DVA is funding a series of training courses. To learn more about these fully funded programs and to register, visit DVA’s website