DVA Tell Your Story: Vanessa — Finding Purpose Through Transition
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Episode Overview
In this episode of Tell Your Story, we sit down with Vanessa, who shares her lived experience of serving across the Australian Army and Navy, navigating injury and mental health challenges, and finding renewed purpose through community, sport, and education.
This conversation explores themes of transition from service, mental health, identity, and support, offering valuable insight for veterans, families, and the services that walk alongside them during and after military life.
Listen to the conversation
About the organisations featured in this episode
Vanessa’s story highlights the importance of structured, supportive pathways during and after service. Two key initiatives discussed in this conversation are outlined below.
Invictus Games
The Invictus Games is an international adaptive sports event for wounded, injured, and ill serving and former service personnel. The Games use the power of sport to inspire recovery, foster connection, and support rehabilitation.
For Vanessa, involvement in the Invictus Games provided a renewed sense of identity, confidence, and belonging at a critical time in her recovery.
Key links & resources
🌐 Website: Invictus Games Foundation
📄 About the Invictus Games: Aims and Origins
UniSA WAVES (formerly Invictus Pathways Program)
The WAVES Program at the University of South Australia supports veterans and their families to transition into education and employment through practical, hands-on learning and tailored support.
Vanessa describes this program as life-changing, offering structure, confidence, and a tangible pathway forward during transition.
Key links & resources
🌐 Website: Uni SA WAVES Program
Key themes discussed
Serving across Army and Navy
Injury, illness, and identity
Mental health and stigma in service
Transitioning out of the military
The role of sport, education, and community
Finding purpose beyond uniform
Key takeaways
Key reflections and insights from this conversation include:
Serving in a military family environment can strongly shape identity and career direction.
Physical injuries can mask deeper mental health challenges if support is delayed.
Mental health diagnoses can carry stigma, making it difficult to seek help early.
Honest conversations with trusted people are a critical step toward recovery.
Transitioning from service is complex and requires structured, proactive support.
Programs like Invictus and WAVES can be genuinely life-changing.
Veterans benefit most when support is practical, hands-on, and community-based.
Finding purpose after service is possible, but rarely happens alone.
Selected sound bites
Moments from the conversation that capture key themes and reflections:
“I hid behind the physical injuries because I was ashamed of the mental illness.”
“Those programs were genuinely life-changing for me.”
“Once I started talking to people, things began to shift.”
Episode chapters
This episode covers the following topics:
00:00 Introduction and background
01:36 Service across Army and Navy
03:24 Injury, illness, and mental health
08:00 Diagnosis and stigma
12:30 Discovering the Invictus Games
17:45 UniSA WAVES and education pathways
23:00 Advice for veterans navigating transition
About the Tell Your Story project
Tell Your Story is a Department of Veterans’ Affairs supported storytelling project amplifying lived experience across the veteran community through respectful, recorded conversations.
If this conversation raises difficult topics, support is available through services such as Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling (1800 011 046).
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