James Cook University host Mindful Warriors Full Day retreat for veteran mental health

Following the success of JCU’s mindful warriors monthly check-in events, a full day retreat has been created for veterans looking to reduce their stress levels. See how it’s helped previous participants.

With veteran mental health week around the corner, Psychologists from James Cook University have organised a full day retreat to teach participants how to look inward to find peace and regulate their emotions.

On Saturday veterans, their family members and participants from the wider community will take part in the Mindful Warriors Full Day Retreat at JCU’s Bebegu Yumba campus in Townsville.

JCU Associate Professor of Psychology Wendy Li said the day will include various types of mindfulness meditation techniques including body scans and a BBQ which will focus on mindful eating and drinking.

“From our research we found mindfulness is very useful for reducing mental health disorders or symptoms,” she said.

“The retreat is an opportunity for veterans to come together and practice using different forms of mindfulness, including meditation, attention focus and Wayapa, which is an Indigenous wellness practice involving Earth connection and movement meditation.”

Instructor Wendy Li with Veterans Brian Heilbronn and Rob Donkin are set for the upcoming JCU retreat. Picture Evan Morgan

Vietnam veteran Rob Donkin said that while mindfulness may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s certainly helped him feel calmer.

“I use the term ‘not-nirvana’ in the sense that it’s no big, huge change but it does give me a degree of peacefulness that I find useful and helpful,” he said.

Former 1st Battalion soldier, Brian Heilbronn is taking this Saturday’s event as an opportunity to give the mindfulness exercises a go for the first time.

“I’ve deployed overseas as part of my service and from that have had some resulting mental health conditions so looking for different ways and strategies to maintain a healthy mental health is important to me,” he said.

“This is an opportunity to try something that I haven’t tried before to add another tool to my mental health toolkit.”

To register, head to www.jcu.edu.au/events and search ‘Mindful Warriors’.

Originally published as James Cook University host Mindful Warriors Full Day retreat for veteran mental health