Buddy Up Australia

Buddy Up Australia joined VESPIIA to be part of a national professional body that genuinely understands the sector we serve. As a not-for-profit supporting current and ex-serving Defence members and First Responders through community, physical activity and wellbeing programs, we saw immediate alignment with VESPIIA's mission to connect and strengthen organisations working across these communities.

The Institute gives us access to evidence-based research, peer networks, and a national advocacy voice on the issues that matter most to our members, including mental health, transition, and operational stress. Being part of VESPIIA means we are not working in isolation but as part of a broader, credible ecosystem committed to the wellbeing of those who serve.

Buddy Up Australia delivers event-based community programs that strengthen the physical health, social connection and wellbeing of current and ex-serving Defence members, First Responders and their families. With over 4,000 members across 12 cities and over 1,000 events delivered this year alone, our work operates upstream, building resilience and protective factors before crisis points emerge.

Our face-to-face events span fitness and performance, outdoor adventures, wellness and recovery, and social activities, giving members consistent touch points for connection and decompression. Our national online events program extends that reach further, delivering high-performance education and wellbeing content to members regardless of location.

We also deliver Thrive in Service, a one-day resilience workshop for First Responder and Defence organisations. The impact is prevention-oriented: we meet people early, build healthy habits, and create the kind of community that sustains people through and beyond service life.

The sector needs to move earlier. Most support infrastructure activates at crisis point, but the greatest opportunity lies in building wellbeing, identity and community before people need it. Buddy Up Australia's experience shows that when we reach Defence members and First Responders early in their careers and build consistent, meaningful connection through shared experiences, the protective benefits compound over time.

We see an urgent need for prevention-oriented programs that are evidence-based, scalable and built around the lived experience of those in service, not designed around the aftermath. Workforce capability and transition are also critical gaps — the Future Frontlines research VESPIIA has published reflects challenges we see playing out in real time across our membership. The sector's next step is coordinated investment in upstream support, and that requires organisations like ours working together within a strong national framework.

One of our proudest recent milestones has been the successful delivery of Thrive in Service to Queensland Police Service. Thrive in Service is a one-day resilience workshop built around four evidence-based modules covering mindset, performance, nutrition and movement, delivered by a team of ex-service ambassadors with deep lived experience. The QPS cohort responded exceptionally well, reinforcing the program's potential as a scalable B2B offering for first responder organisations nationally.

Alongside this, FY25/26 has been a significant growth year for Buddy Up Australia as an organisation. We have surpassed 1,000 events delivered this financial year, a milestone that reflects both the strength of our volunteer Team Leader network and the growing demand for meaningful, community-based support among Defence members and First Responders. Member numbers have grown substantially alongside this, demonstrating that when you build genuine community around shared experience, people show up and they stay.

These results give us strong foundations heading into FY26/27, where our focus turns to expanding Thrive in Service into additional states, scaling our national online events program, and deepening the impact we have across the full spectrum of Defence and first responder communities.

Community is the intervention. In a sector that often mobilises around crisis, the most powerful thing we have learned at Buddy Up Australia is that consistent, low-barrier connection built around shared physical experience creates something profound: a sense of belonging that sustains people through the hardest parts of service life and beyond.

You don't always need a complicated model. You need people showing up regularly for each other, doing something that matters to them, alongside others who understand the life they have lived. If you are working in this sector and wondering where to invest your energy, build the community first. The outcomes follow.