News & Media

WHILE it may look like a fun, social way to exercise out on the water, Mildura Dragon Boat Club’s come-and-try day had a much deeper meaning, with veterans turning out with their families to connect with others and find like-minded people.

The activity was the first event of RSL Active in Mildura, and the brainchild of Jill Edens, a veteran who is determined to find ways for ex-service women and their children to be better supported in the local community.

“I’m an Australian female veteran and having been back in the community for about 13 years I realised that’s the support I’ve always needed but I’ve never known how to link into it,” Ms Edens said.

“I’ve been a single mum with two little boys and time poor so I wasn’t in a position to sit down at the RSL while working full time.

“So now that my boys are older it is a prime opportunity for me to focus more on what that looks like.”

About three months ago, Ms Edens started researching and contacting politicians, which led to her engaging with RSL Active, a social, emotional, wellbeing project offering veterans and their families programs and activities to improve physical and mental health.

Ms Edens served in East Timor as an army medic for 7.5 months, and said since her return, had identified a lack of avenues for support particularly in regional areas.

“Through working with Open Arms from a personal counselling perspective, I looked at what I felt I needed in terms of support, identified the gaps so I could try to bridge them for myself and people who are in a similar position.”

She said the first activity, the Mildura Dragon Boat Club come-and-try day on Saturday, proved a success with a bigger turnout of veterans and their family members than expected.

“The (dragon boat club) were just absolutely beautiful and really wanted to get behind the whole ethos of the activity, to support veterans and their families.

“It was a really good marriage of an activity because it does encompass all abilities to a certain extent and it was a way to showcase these activities and potentially have a pathway for veterans and their families who would want to join a new activity and find that social connectiveness.”

Ms Edens said she hoped to hold a different activity every few months, with the options endless.

She said alongside the activities she was working to reinvigorate the Mildura Women’s Veterans Association and wanted to better connect older and younger veterans, so they can act as support networks for one another.

Article written by: Sarah Harman

Article provided by The Sunraysia Daily
https://www.sunraysiadaily.com.au