V360A & Victoria Police Working Together

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Ringwood Police Station

Many people only have contact with police when they are in peril or when they are in strife. However, one veteran saw police in their most often unseen role today, providing much needed assistance to a vulnerable member of the community.

This veteran has spent much of 2018 living on the streets of Melbourne following a serious accident where he was hit by a car and suffered a broken leg. Not being able to get to appointments and have his leg attended to, he has been stuck on the streets, despite many working with V360A hoping to locate and assist him.

One shopping centre manager was constantly requesting he be charged with trespass rather than taking a compassionate view and providing this man with a safe and out of the way option while others could work to assist him. This impeded our efforts to locate him for several months.

Moving homeless along only adds to their plight and makes them more difficult to find when we want to offer assistance. While providing a few days of out of the way shelter, might assist agencies such as ours to provide support, options and accommodation, which resolves the situation rather than adds to it.

This week working with Sergeant Jodie Vickers from Ringwood police in Victoria, we managed to locate and arrange safe accommodation for this veteran, with a view to admitting him to the veteran accommodation run by the RSL in Richmond.

Once again Jeff Jackson from RSL Victoria is to be commended for his immediate and succinct action to assist with a week’s safe housing before our team can attend and assist with his next phase of recovery.

“It is joint efforts like these that ensure our vulnerable and at-risk veterans are identified, located and assisted in every way possible.” said V360 CEO Jay Devereux speaking from Perth where his team coordinated the events.

Not all police are about arrests.

Handling situations with homeless and mentally injured veterans is a true quality we see in the ethics of modern policing. As many of our police once served with the ADF, there is a bond that cannot be easily broken and is nurtured despite the transition to another role.

Many veterans become homeless from situations that see them unable to work, attend necessary appointments or comply with needed medical regimes needed to ensure they have ongoing support from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Immediate Help is Vital

V360A’s contract with the Department ensures we can maintain connectivity between the parties and provide immediate feedback where a veteran is experiencing difficulty or unable to attend appointments with medical and mental health professionals.

DVA are very understanding of individual circumstances and strive to accommodate the veteran’s situation as far as possible.

  • Open Arms (formerly VVCS) 1800 011 046
  • V360 Australia Homeless Crisis Line 1800 838 360
  • VetGuard Suicide Prevention Line 1800 838 000
  • LifeLine 131 114
  • Beyond Blue 1300 224 636
  • Police non-emergency 131 444
  • Police, Fire Ambulance Emergency 000

If you want to learn more about how we work and the outcomes we see, please visit www.v360.org.au 

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Veterans 360 Australia announce new DVA contract.

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The Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Veterans 360 Australia have announced their newest contract worth $120,000, which will operate over the 2018/2019 financial year.

The contract enables V360A to reclaim funds spent on providing immediate assistance to veterans in crisis, by attending to those who are experiencing homelessness, mental health episodes, physical injuries and other complex crises.

In this limited tender contract it is noted that V360A are providing services of, “Supply by particular business: due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.”

Working with the Department, V360A aim to address identified issues and seek out underlying causes, which lead to circumstances where complex service delivery is a requirement.

Over the last three years DVA have been accused of doing too little for minorities in the veteran community, whereas the process of sourcing effective programs has taken some time, there are now vast improvements in outcomes for at risk veterans, for which DVA must receive credit.

Jay Devereux is the founder and CEO of this veteran centric charity and has been working closely with DVA to tailor programs and resource solutions that are supportive of veterans in the moment they need help.

“There were four other organisations examined during the initial process. We are pleased to see V360A have emerged as the organisation to receive ongoing support from the Department.

We are honoured to see our efforts in assisting homeless and injured veterans has resounded with DVA. Our team works hard to make sure we get to the veteran and provide support, when and where it is needed.”

Jay Devereux, founder and CEO

Communication is key in a crisis.

After initial meetings with DVA in 2016, it was decided to purchase and resource a free call 1800 number to ensure even the most isolated veterans had a means to connect with services.

While DVA have the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS) 24-hour line, sometimes veterans feel more comfortable speaking with non-government agencies before looking into what is available to them through the Department.

The release of the 1800 number and an Ex-Service Organisation Information Pack, saw newly acquired and formulated concepts being made available to traditional ESOs such as the RSL.

This Info Pack was the primary document that saw Mr Devereux and Chief Operating Officer Tessa Jackson, invited to Canberra in November 2016, where Mr Devereux gave a keynote speech to the inaugural Veterans’ Ministers Round-table conference. 

During his speech Mr Devereux spoke of his own homelessness, the time he spent living on the streets of Adelaide, being addicted to amphetamines and eventually spending time in custody for a robbery committed during this time in early 2004.

This raw and lived experience was positively reflected on by then Minister of Veterans’ Affairs Dan Tehan MP, as well as the many State ministers and their senior advisers.

Tessa Jackson provides a key role in V360A, where she is employed as the Chief Operating Officer.

Ms Jackson is responsible for coordination, communication and operational efficiency of the organisation. With a background in healthcare and counselling, she brings a driven and decisive set of values to the ongoing mission to provide responsive and solutions focused outcomes for any veteran who needs care.

“We encourage all our clients to engage with psychological counselling services and VVCS provide excellent psychologists, individual and group sessions, training for veterans family members as well as for the wider community who have a desire to work with veterans. All our operators are trained through VVCS.”

Tessa Jackson, Chief Operating Officer

In 2016 DVA expanded access to the White Card so that anyone who has served in the full-time defence forces can access mental health care regardless of the conditions being related to service.

This expansion enabled much wider access to services such as alcohol and drug rehabilitation, mental health diagnosis and treatment, pharmaceuticals and extended psychiatric therapeutic regimes.

What does V360A do?

Crisis and emergency accommodation

Immediate assessment and referral to medical and allied healthcare

Comprehensive case management

Assistance to alcohol and substance abuse rehabilitation

Advocacy for veterans who have contact with police and the courts

Pre and post prison assistance

Assistance accessing and navigating veteran welfare funds

Suicide prevention training (through VVCS)

VetGuard suicide prevention app

V360 Australia Ltd are a registered charity, who hold PBI and DGR status. We publish our annual income and expenditure to the ACNC website and run our own transparency page. All donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.

Providing solutions for veteran homelessness and service related injuries.

Veterans 360 Australia
Help us to assist them

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