A new program in Queensland is helping veterans heel by connecting them with retired racehorses. And as Rachel McGhee reports the partnership is a win-win.
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Isaac Adams's mental health journey since leaving the Australian Defence Force has been slow, but eight years on he's at ease with his experiences and found a way to help other veterans cope after service.
The 32-year-old from Ipswich joined the army in 2008 at 18 years of age.
He served for five years as a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) operator and in that time was deployed to Afghanistan.
He voluntarily discharged in 2013 but upon leaving struggled to process what he had been through and found it difficult to integrate back into civilian life.
He also found he was not alone.
"I found it very hard to just go outside some days. I really was quite depressed," Mr Adams said.
"I saw a lot of guys that were medicated and … doing endless amounts of therapy, but I hadn't seen any really strong examples of guys coming out the other side."
Mr Adams was seeing a psychologist and trying different mental health therapies, but said it was only when he started working with horses that he began to cope.
In 2016 he found horsemanship and it changed his life.
"Now … It's really nice to be able to go to university and have my life, and be free of all those sort of heavy feelings and sadness and anger that I used to carry around."
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