When Australian army veteran Dave Dyer came back traumatised from an overseas posting, he "fell down a hole". He said volunteering had saved his life.
Mr Dyer worked as a medic in Rwanda in 1994, towards the end of the country's bloody civil war.
Treating children who had suffered horrific violence at the hands of militia groups left him psychologically scarred.
Upon returning home to Adelaide, he developed post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
In the late 1990s, Mr Dyer began working as an army trainer, when he said he began to experience flashbacks.
"I use to cry when you mentioned the word 'Rwanda'."
Soon after, Mr Dyer left the Australian Defence Force — an organisation he said did little to help him.
"From the discharge point of view, I was quickly swept under the carpet, they said to quickly get out before I infect anybody else," he said.
"I was really left out in the cold."
A new lease on life
Almost 30 years later, Mr Dyer has found an outlet that is helping him process his trauma.
In 2020 he joined a Disaster Relief Australia program to help families impacted by devastating bushfires in the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island.
He was among the first to volunteer for the recovery effort, and said the program had given him a "new lease on life."
"It's a sense of belonging, it's achieving a bigger goal…you get to meet new and older veterans."
Disaster Relief Australia's CEO, Geoff Evans, said thousands of veterans struggling with their mental health had found new purpose through volunteering.
"Our formula is very simple – ask veterans to help other people.
"They gain a sense of camaraderie, a sense of importance and a deep sense of self."
Mr Evans has testified to the program's success in the ongoing Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
Could volunteering help solve the mental health crisis?
A nation-wide study incorporating case studies, focus groups and surveys will investigate whether disaster recovery could be one way to help veterans reintegrate into society.
More than $300,000 in "Movember" fundraising grants will be put towards a joint study between the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Flinders University.
Lead researcher Joep Van Agteren said the study would be underway for the next two years.
"We often think of veterans as an at-risk group," he said.
"Particularly when we think about first responders and veterans specifically, we often talk about the higher risks with their mental health,"
For veterans like Dave Dyer, he hopes the research outcomes could help to combat a historic problem.
"I hope this helps the younger generation of veterans so they don't take their own life," he said.
