Ex-Australian Army Artillery Officer Brendan Hardman (right), who last year helped the club set up a new program helping ADF personnel transition back into civilian life, will be the first to have one of the special memberships. Image: PAFC.

BRENDAN HARDMAN likens his discharge from the Army to an AFL player being delisted.

In hindsight the end of his military career was coming for a long time. Recurring back injuries over a four-year period had him in constant nerve pain in each leg and there was a time when he could not feel his left leg at all.

By the time he got out of the Army in 2016 the limitations that came with his physical pain meant he was confined to an administration role – certainly not what he signed up for when he graduated from the Royal Military College at Duntroon in 2009 as a 22-year-old.

After nearly eight years in the Army, including an eight-and-a-half-month deployment to Afghanistan, Hardman felt alone and lacking an identity.

“I started to spiral downhill with depression and I suffered really badly with depression and anxiety,” Hardman tells portadelaidefc.com.au.

“By the time I got out in April 2016 I was struggling to get out of bed, I was having breakdowns, panic attacks. My wife found me multiple times in the walk-in wardrobe crying in the corner, just absolutely not in a good space.

“Then in April, 2017 I nearly took my own life. Fortunately, we got through that night. I was keeping everything locked in, being a stoic male and dealing with it on my own and it was at that point that I realised I needed help.”

At his lowest, the Port Adelaide Football Club reached out, and he started a short stint as a volunteer with Power Community Limited – the club’s not-for-profit community arm.

It helped, but the interruption was short-lived because his second bout of back surgery was brought forward.

“I spent a lot of time recovering my physical health after my surgery and probably paid off the mental side of things,” Hardman explains. “I thought if I could get myself fit and healthy again, I’d just go back to being normal.

“Unfortunately, that’s not how mental health works, and over time my mental health declined quite badly.

“A key part of military - like sport – is having that “family” and support networks around you. When you no longer have that family, you become rudderless and I used to say to my wife that I don’t have a hook to hang my hat on.

“Your identity is that you’re an officer and you don’t know anything else.”

Hardman’s story is all too common, leading to serious issues with the number of veterans taking their own life. So serious is the issue that this week the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced a Royal Commission will be held into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

The Port Adelaide Football Club is also doing its bit to help combat the issue through a new program being launched next week for 39 ADF veterans.

The six-week pilot program, funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, is aimed at giving discharged veterans the opportunity to interact with Port Adelaide staff, players and coaches to promote both physical and mental wellbeing.

The club has had a long relationship with the ADF and has previously run programs to help ADF families and children navigate the unique challenges they face.

Port Adelaide has had a long relationship with the ADF.

The new veterans program takes that relationship further, hoping to give veterans the tools to establish their identity away from their previous workplace.

That includes networks with others going through the transition.

“The transition from ADF to civilian life isn’t as simple as it seems, much like what the players experience leaving the AFL system,” explains Power Community Limited General Manager, Jake Battifuoco. 

“Our program is there to hopefully help during that period.

“On base, ADF members have at least seven points of contact if they are faced with a challenging situation and when they are discharged those contacts are no longer there.

“We believe that by sharing some of the tools we equip our departing players with, that we can make a real difference in the lives of people who have served our nation in transitioning back into daily life.”

Among the weekly sessions, the participants will hear from Port Adelaide board member and high-profile tennis coach Darren Cahill about goal setting and high performance, from Senior Assistant coach Michael Voss about values and leadership and from past players Alipate Carlile and Cam Sutcliffe about transitioning out of the AFL.

Brendan Hardman with ADF Veterans Program coordinator Will Northeast at Alberton Oval.

The program will be held at the AFL Max facility from Monday 3 May and participants will have dinner provided and be given tickets to see Port Adelaide play.

Over the course of the program, a Connection Club will be formed to allow participants to continue to catch up outside of the program.

The realities of veterans committing suicide is all too real for Brendan Hardman who felt the impact directly when an officer he was mentoring took their own life.

“I wish I had a program like this, something that could point me in the right direction so I wasn’t fumbling in the dark for so many years and get to that point where it was almost too late,” he says.

“I’m one of the lucky ones that got through that point. The program that Port has created will just help people fast-track that and give them the ability to realise there are some structured steps to set yourself up and give yourself direction.”

The Port Adelaide Football club thanks the Department for Veterans Affairs along with MESHA, 7RAR, SOLDIER ON, RSL SA, Foodbank, The Hutt Street Centre for their involvement and in particular Brendan Hardman for his support and consultation in the program development.