In the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day, veteran communities across Australia have been coming together for special screenings of the documentary, The Healing.

Directed by Nick Barkla, the documentary joins a group of veterans who are struggling to readjust back into civilian life as they complete a week-long alternative post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) therapy program in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.

The program, Horse Aid, partners traumatised veterans with traumatised ex-racehorses through the guidance and support of retired mounted police officer and horse trainer, Scott Brodie.

Former navy chaplain Mel Baker was homeless prior to partaking in the program. She told The Drum she owes her life to the program and that she hopes the documentary can be part of the solution amid the ongoing Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

In Australia, male veterans have a suicide rate 27 per cent higher than the general population. For female veterans, the rate of suicide is 107 per cent higher than the general population.

In the documentary, Ms Baker details the trauma she lives with after being sexually assaulted and bullied while in the navy.

“It was a year after my medical discharge, I lost everything in my life,” she told The Drum.

“I actually wasn’t going to turn up [to the program], I was in a really bad state. And [Mr Brodie] called me and said, ‘Mel you really have to be here’, and I pushed myself to drive down.”

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) does not currently offer funding for alternative PTSD therapy such as HorseAid.

When asked if equine therapy such as Horse Aid is being considered for funding, a spokesperson from DVA told the ABC that the department is continuously monitoring “the evidence and research relating to emerging and alternative therapies relating to PTSD”.

“Eligible veterans can access a wide range of treatments and supports through a national network of public and private providers,” the department said.

Ms Baker said she hopes the documentary can shine a light on the benefits of alternative PTSD therapy to the DVA.

“One of the biggest things we want to add with The Healing documentary is to say to DVA, and the government, that these alternative therapies are really important,” she said

“The current medical model is not one size fits all.

“What works for me is not going to work for other people, some people would really work with horses, and some people won’t [but] they will find something else.”

Ms Baker said DVA needs to ask itself “are we offering everything that we need to really help our veterans to work towards post-traumatic growth?”

In March this year, Ms Baker and Mr Brodie were invited to show the documentary as evidence to commissioners of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

Chair Commissioner Nick Kaldas told The Drum the commission has seen several examples during evidence proceedings that demonstrated the benefits of alternative therapies for veterans.

“All of these are probably not traditional sorts of methods of helping veterans, all seem to have a lot of positive effects, we’re very supportive of all of those efforts,” he said.

“Certainly the equine therapy, I mean, it’s just fantastic, [we’ve] met quite a number of people who have given evidence and public hearings before us about how helpful it’s been for them.”

In September, Mr Kaldas addressed the National Press Club and accused the defence force of “going through the motions” during their inquest.

Speaking to The Drum, Mr Kaldas said that The Healing’s national screenings offer the public an opportunity for “more engagement and understanding” of the veteran suicide crisis.

“We have to support anything that the veterans tell us was helpful to them in terms of therapy,” he said.

“[We need to be] making sure that they get back on track for whatever issues they may have had, whether it’s physical injuries or mental health issues, or simply just reintegrating back into society.”

Our ‘long history’ with horses

Now an expert horseman, Mr Brodie only discovered his connection with the animals as a young adult. He said it’s common for people to discover a connection with the animals during their first encounter.

“We have a long history with horses, goes back thousands of years, even though we don’t have a lot to do with them, day to day, it’s always amazing when you bring people back in contact with them,” he said.

“They can very quickly have an affinity with them.

“People sometimes go through the whole life and don’t know they have it. And sometimes they they accidentally come in contact with horses a little bit like I did, and, suddenly there’s something special there.”

Horse Aid relies on corporate funding and public donations, the charity runs monthly one-day programs and five-day residential programs that are limited by funding. 

“We’re only limited by funds as to how many of [programs] we can run,” he said. 

“We might come in contact with 120 to 150 veterans per year at this stage.

“Regularly, veterans say to me, without the opportunity to be involved in this programme, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

“The reason we got the opportunity to speak to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide is because veterans said to them, this has been good for me, this saved my life.”