Open Door Initiative

Improving the wellbeing of veterans and public safety personnel and their families

A different approach

Our unique, holistic approach integrates the physical, psychological and social elements of wellbeing to ensure that those who have served are supported to succeed, thrive and flourish.

Our research

From helping to understand and navigate the transition to civilian life and supporting families through challenging times to getting at the root causes of veteran suicide, Open Door is recognised nationally and internationally for tackling real-world problems and delivering evidence to drive impact across the life course.

We work in partnership with current and former military and public safety personnel and their families to design and deliver world-leading health and wellbeing research, education and programs.

Our work focuses on:

Social, mental and physical health and wellbeing

Service, transition and life after service

Systems and culture

Legislation, policy and service provision

Our research impact

Work with us

Open Door are proud to collaborate with government, research agencies, not for profits, other associated organisations and those with lived-experience and their families. If you would like to work with us, get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.

Contact us: open.door@flinders.edu.au

A message from our Director

"As a trusted provider for social health and wellbeing research for key defence, veteran and emergency service sectors, we deliver impact through innovations in education, evaluation, health care, social work and knowledge translation to information policy and practice."

Professor Ben Wadham

Our team

Our multi-disciplinary team brings together expertise from across many research fields including sociology, psychology, social work, health sciences and archaeology. We also bring together service providers, policy people and those with lived experience to help inform our research and programs through co-design.

Meet the team