Bill for veterans mental health care reaches $241m with 20,000 in rehab
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The taxpayer bill for the mental health care of former defence personnel has ballooned 35 per cent in five years, with nearly 20,000 former service members checking into rehab clinics every year.
The problem of addiction and mental illnesses among former service members is so great that some treatment providers are starting to offer veterans-only programs, including The Buttery in northern NSW kicking off a pilot study this month.
Senator Jacqui Lambie says alcohol and substance abuse issues are rife among veterans and the system is failing them at every turn.
Higher education should be for everyone
At the beginning of this year, in what was a spur of the moment decision, I applied to undertake a Masters degree. It had been a long time coming. Indeed, when I finished honours in 2002, I had planned to enter the workforce, enjoy not being utterly broke for a bit, then return to uni to begin my PhD. Seven years later, I finally realised that wasn’t going to happen so I enrolled in a graduate diploma to ‘dip my toes’ back in the world of academia with the view of continuing on. Again, that didn’t happen so eight years later, here I am again: only a couple of weeks away from submitting my final assessments for my Masters and seeing what I do next.