Wellbeing Forum: Take Time — for mental health (Brisbane)

Buddy Up Australia is focused on providing connection and purpose for military and emergency services personnel and their immediate families. This includes Police, Fire and Rescue, Ambulance, Army, Airforce, and Navy.

Their aim is to provide connection and purpose to our members so that they stay mentally and physically well during and after they have served their country and local communities. 

During Queensland Mental Health Week in 2020, Buddy Up Australia will be holding a free and COVID-19 safe event, called ‘Wellbeing Forum: Take Time — for mental health’.

It will be open to pre-registered ticketed-entry only to new and existing members, their families and the public, on Saturday 17 October 2020, 1000-1500h.

This half-day forum will hold a keynote welcome and short lecture on ‘Taking Time for Mental Health for Veterans & First Responders’, then a series of concurrent workshops/seminars, and then a final Q&A Panel session, all held in a COVID-19 safe manner, and all sessions will also be either live-streamed via social media, or video recorded for later broadcast as online webinars via the Buddy Up Website and Youtube, to an even larger audience of Queensland and national new and existing members, their families and the public.

The concurrent workshops/seminars will be provided by Buddy Up Australia and other invited Veteran organisations, professional mental health services, lived experienced mental health peer workers, and local veteran-run businesses

The forum will be held in partnership with local government, held at a public local government facility, utilising indoor and outdoor elements, and be catered by a veteran-run catering company. Buddy Up Australia will also be offering space for other NGOs and groups to hold exhibitions in a common area and where the coffee van will be located.

On Sunday 18 October Buddy Up Australia will be holding a second complementary activity, of their regular monthly group hike and coffee catch-up, at one of the local nature reserves nearby to the event, to focus on the themes of ‘Take time to get healthy’ and ‘Take time to embrace nature’.