Open Door - Flinders University

OPEN DOOR Veteran Transition Integration Wellbeing

What is Open Door?

Open Door is an Australasian multi-disciplinary research hub that conducts research in partnership with veterans, service personnel and the wider sector including those with lived experience.

Open Door conducts blue-sky, applied, translational and evaluation research to determine what works for veterans and first responders and their families in transition and post service, providing policy advice and knowledge translation to government, service providers, advocacy groups, and the wider community.

Our vision is for a cultural environment that recognises and supports veterans, public safety officers’ and their families’ contribution to wider society.

Our mission to enable the social health and wellbeing of veterans, public safety officers and their families through innovations in education, special work, psychological care, social policy and knowledge translation.

A message from our Director

"Open Door was established to bring holistic research and educational services to veteran wellbeing. Our work also extends to other similar contexts such as first responders and public safety officers. A holistic approach for Open Door is one that balances the biological, the psychological and the social elements of veteran and family wellbeing."

Professor Ben Wadham

What we do?

We have strong expertise in veteran transition and are actively developing educational and employment initiatives to support transitioning veterans and their families. Our research also extends to the health and wellbeing of Police, Fire Officers and Paramedics. Our expertise sits in understanding the effects of working within paramilitary organisations.

A key focus of Open Door is to reframe the narrative that service personnel across the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and first responder agencies are not defined by mental and physical health challenges. We are a community that has had much invested in us across our service and upon separation and transition to civilian life we have much to give back. Open Door adopts a strength based, capacity building model of research and practice.

Our strategic objectives

Lead Australia’s population transition, integration, and wellbeing response through research, lived experience and co design.
Become the leading Australasian (Aust & NZ) hub for veteran, public safety and family research in social policy, clinical treatments, and narrative inquiry.
Lead a co-design, lived experience approach to transition health and wellbeing across diverse groups.
Become the 'go to' research service for social health and wellbeing research for key Australasian Defence, Veteran and Public Safety institutions.

Our Research Projects

Resources

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 through co-design.

Meet the team

Become a member

Support veteran health & wellbeing

With your support we can change the lives of veterans, first responders and their families.

100% of your tax-deductible donation will support mental health and wellbeing research at Flinders University’s Open Door Initiative.

Donate today

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News

Thank you to The Last Post for their ongoing support

Connect with us

See how you can stay updated on our research and issues affecting veterans and first responders. You can also contact us to hear more or discuss how we can work with in a partnerships or project.

open.door@flinders.edu.au

Ph: 08 8201 3358