The Hills Murraylands Sub-branch of the Military Brotherhood MMC is proud to be partnered with the Veterans Financial Well Being Project. The project is being run by UCare Gawler and is focused on the financial wellbeing of Veterans.

Here is a bit about the project:

UCare Gawler is a Not-for-profit welfare organisation, operating in Gawler for over 25 years. We provide emergency material relief for individuals and families in crisis & help people who are experiencing high levels of financial difficulty.
UCare Gawler recently received some funding from the Ecstra Foundation to undertake the Veterans Financial Wellbeing and Capability Pilot Project here in South Australia. The Project also has a large amount of voluntary & in kind support. This is the first time a project of this nature has been supported anywhere in Australia.
As I am sure you are well aware, the link between mental health issues and financial hardship is evident and has also been recently identified by a survey from Financial Counselling Australia. Veterans suffer from more mental health issues than the general population. Our research has reinforced the need to provide Financial Wellbeing and Capability education to ADF members, Veterans and their families.

What have we been up to this year?
We have delivered 3 online Financial Capability presentations – attendance has been primarily people who are not specifically in need of our services. We continue to refine/tailor to suit our audience.
We have since been working on ways to identify how to reach the people who can benefit from these presentations.
Plans are in place to offer a more in depth presentation focused on Budgeting and debt management.
We have generated 2 surveys – one directed to ADF members, veterans and their families and one to the financial counselling sector. Both surveys have indicated that there is a need to provide financial wellbeing and capability education to ADF members, veterans and their families

Our goals for 2021
We hope to move into more face to face education and reach out to engage & partner with people in the frontline of ex service organisations to reach & support as many as possible.

How you can you help us?
We would like to meet with advocates and other service providers to discuss in more detail about our program and how we can work together to reach more serving members, veterans and their families. We are also open to suggestions from you of other topics you feel may be of value.

The way forward.
We have a short and sweet online 10 minute presentation, to give you a bigger picture on where are going in 2021 and how we can work together to have a positive impact on the Financial wellbeing and mental health of current serving members, Veterans and their families or if preferred we can meet in person or on the phone.
Topics covered Include:
Financial Wellbeing and Financial Capability Definitions
Budgeting
Understanding credit and utility bills
Insurance types
Payments and Concessions
Importance of Financial Literacy

This short survey is directed to Veterans, members and families of those who have previously discharged, deployed or transitioned. The survey is to gather data to support the Veterans Financial Wellbeing Pilot Project.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J7XP53D

For more information or to book an appointment or online presentation, UCare can be contacted by:
Phone: 08 85224522, Mobile: 0437 211006, E-mail: alan1.murray@internode.on.net