ADF veterans take up buddy system app to watch out for eachother
An emergency alert app is changing the way veterans across Australia are responding to mental health, with plans to release it more broadly.
Townsville
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An emergency alert app is changing the way veterans across Australia are responding to mental health, with plans to release it more broadly.
With a $100 thousand loan and one man’s drive to see a change in alarming suicide rates among ex-serving ADF members, RedSix was launched in 2019.
Based on a colour coded ‘buddy system’, the app required users to nominate their closest mates to be notified should the veteran’s mood reach an alarming low point and needed intervention.
The green, amber and red ‘mood buttons’ prompt peer support whereas the black sends emergency alert for clinical support provided by a 24 hour phone service.
Townsville veteran Damien Irish said post-traumatic stress disorder had taken him to some dark places in the past where he relied on large amounts of alcohol to mask the pain.
He said accompanied with sport and persistence, this app provided another tool for intervention.
“I accidentally hit the red button one day and within five minutes I had a mate call me and that’s the real life effect it has,” Mr Irish said.
“PTSD is not a shampoo commercial recovery isn’t going to happen overnight but you have to keep plotting along.
“I have a very, very understanding wife and a loving family so I’m probably having more up times than down times at the moment.”
App designer Michael Handley said the idea came to him after facing his own demons and frustrated by the lack of ‘user friendly’ help.
“One of the major factors of PTSD is we push everybody away so when I came time to put my hand up for help I didn’t get anything and I was met with silence,” Mr Handley said.
“I deployed to Somalia with 1000 members so I knew sooner or later a lot more people in the same position.
“In 2018 I sat back and thought now is the time to implement something that’s a lot simpler to use and if I’ve got a mobile phone everyone else does too.”
Mr Handley said the app had grown to be the most downloaded app for veterans with over 3000 subscriptions in its first three months.
He said its success had caught the attention of mental health organisations and was in discussions with the Black Dog Institute, Beyond Blue, and Lifeline to roll it out for the general population.
Originally published as ADF veterans take up buddy system app to watch out for eachother