By Mikayla Van Loon
In as little as 12 months Mount Evelyn RSL’s Veterans for Fishing initiative has gone from strength to strength, building bonds and improving mental health.
Established as a way to engage with veterans of all ages, particularly those struggling with post-service mental health conditions, Veterans for Fishing has started reaching beyond its borders of the Yarra Ranges.
For president of the group, Chris McAleer, and Mount Evelyn RSL president Matt Crymble, the response of the community has been astounding.
“It is working and I’ve been amazed with how quickly it’s taken off and how people have really gotten behind us,” Mr McAleer said.
But what’s on the horizon for the group is expected to be even bigger next year, with plans in place to expand the program and its offerings.
“When we first started it, I was unsure if anybody was already doing it. There’s only one other group I found and that was a group called Reeling Veterans who are up in Darwin and they’ve got another chapter in Townsville,” Mr McAleer said.
“They’ve been doing it for five years and they do it on a really grand scale. Once a year they have a trip for five days where they go from Darwin and to the Tiwi Islands. They’ll have a mothership and then they have up to five or six smaller boats skippered by veterans.”
Having been lucky enough to join the group of 10 veterans and crew on the most recent trip, Mr McAleer said it is now something he would like to implement here in Victoria.
“The plans we’re going to put in place for Veterans for Fishing next year are going to be ginormous,” he said.
“We’re going to try and emulate what they’re doing. We haven’t gone through all the details yet but in theory, it’s going to be a houseboat, four days and will emulate exactly how they do it, where we have veterans apply.”
Witnessing the power of veterans being with other veterans while undertaking the calming activity of fishing in Darwin, Mr McAleer said despite not being a counselling body, Veterans for Fishing has the ability to allow former service people to open up.
“What we do find is that veterans being around other veterans, they open up and they relax a little bit more, even if they don’t know that veteran, once they just relax, they realise we’re all the same.
“There were veterans of all walks of life. There were older veterans, younger veterans. There were veterans that have never been deployed. There are some that have done multiple deployments, and from all branches too Army, Navy and Air Force.”
Seeing the success of the first 12 months, with hundreds of veterans reaching out for group fishing days, individual fishing and the family days, Mr Crymble said it’s something he and the RSL are incredibly proud of, especially to see the impact it is having.
“It sounds a bit silly but Chris is busy every weekend fishing. That sounds like a whole lot of fun, but it’s all a lot of work and our club’s most appreciative of how much work Chris is putting into the job,” he said.
Mr McAleer said the act of fishing is much more than just attempting to catch some fish and is much more about the meditative effects, connection and repair.
“We tend to go to the Goulburn River, it’s picturesque, the fishing is always pretty good but it’s mainly the scenery.
“We can have a fish, we can form a spot on our own and then every now and then I’ll just say ‘hey, remember to look up and have a look where we are’. It’s just beautiful. Yeah.
“Sometimes they just sit and put their feet in the water. It’s just the calming effects of the water flowing by. It’s probably a bit of a cliche, but it tends to wash away a lot of things and they change.”
Not only does it help the individual veteran but Mr McAleer said for those ex-service men and women who have families, family fishing days can help create a “little bit of healing as well”.
“Partners deal with everything at home. They’re holding the children together, they’re holding everything and if there are issues with a veteran, that tension at home is right through and fishing can help all of them.”
With the major age group attending events being between 35 to 55, Mr McAleer and Mr Crymble said it’s still challenging to engage the younger demographic of veterans
“It’s still hard to get the younger blokes involved, they do feel a bit out of it but when they when they come along they tend to relax
“It’s the same with the older generation too…I really enjoy seeing the older veterans come because that’s the barrier that really needs to be broken between the younger vets and the older vets.
“The stories are exactly the same, they’re just 30 years apart. But you can definitely laugh about the same stuff. Nothing has really changed in the army in all those years. It’s the same stories being rehashed, just the uniform has changed.”
Veterans for Fishing has linked with an ex-service organisation called Young Veterans, who have sponsored some of the group’s activities
“Traditional ex service organisations, number one being the RSL, they’re finding it difficult to get the younger members and this is a means to target those younger vets and let them know that we’re here. We’re here to support them and hopefully encourage membership,” Mr Crymble said.
“The RSL would be happy to work with some of these newer organisations. Young Veterans haven’t been around too long, but we’re all on the same team and it’s about supporting veterans.”
Gaining momentum and sponsorship has really increased the capability of Veterans for Fishing, with gear being provided by Shimano, monetary donations from Mt Evelyn Community Bank, Veterans Coffee Company, Ministry of Chocolate and the backing of Lilydale and Monbulk RSLs.
Finishing off the year will be the final family day in Riddells Creek at a private lake that has been stocked with over 500 fish for the event on the last weekend of November.
To keep up to date with what’s ahead for the next year, find Veterans For Fishing on Facebook.
