Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now there are some wonderful events happening at the moment,
and a special walk is happening in Darwin this weekend
to on a firefighter at Australian soldier Nathan Shanahan, who
took his life in twenty sixteen. The event, as I
know you've heard about in previous years as well, is
called walking off the War Within, and it's all about
(00:20):
building connections with others and represents the journey of overcoming
the internal battles at many face after serving in the
military or experiencing traumatic events. Joining us on the line
to talk more about this is the Northern Territory coordinator,
Danny Everly. Good morning to you, Danny.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
How are you Yeah, really well Danny, this is such
a wonderful event. How many years are we at now
for the Northern Territory, Katie?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
This year's number seven. So obviously, as you've mentioned before,
Nathan had Losey's Battle in twenty sixteen, so we kicked
off in twenty seventeen with really just a walk in
his honor and his memory, and we didn't I think
at that point in time expect the amount of people
(01:11):
that did come out till have come out so and
it really did connect with so many, you know, that
messaging of walking off the wall within and particularly with
how you know we encourage people with or without a
pack to do the walk, so the pack being representative
of that weight of what mental illness can do to
(01:32):
a person.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Now, you know, for those out there who didn't know Nathan,
what kind of bloke was he?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh? My goodness. So one of Nate's nicknames was the
Mule because he was just that big meal of a man.
He was a gentle giant, just a softly spoken, really humble, wonderful,
wonderful human being, and we none of us realized what
(02:03):
he was going through. Naith was that he did a
walk himself, which is where walking off the war cape,
but what war within came from. So he actually walked
four hundred kilometers between mil Dura and Adelaide in twenty
fifteen and was the face of soldier on for that
and that really, I guess surprised a lot of us
(02:27):
at that point in time, but for him, who have
then lost his battle of the year after we were flowed,
we really were. So Nate was my husband's loader in
the army, and you know, we were quite close family friends.
So Ma's beautiful wife Kosher was a good friend of
mine as well. And you know, it is one of
(02:49):
those things when you know, big big early blokes or
you know, the army guys or our police and our fieries,
and they experienced these and on a on an often
regular basis and really do just have to put on
a brave face and go at it again. And unfortunately,
(03:10):
I think if they have had to continue to put
on those brave faces at times that it is as
those situations we then we take for granted and you
know we haven't we don't look into as much or
we don't delve into and and that was the situation
with Nate, like we just you know, we didn't expect
it because we had never spoken about it. You know,
(03:31):
things just just kept we just kept moving forward.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, Oh, it's so bloody sad, and it's you know,
and I think it's it's what's even sad? Or is
I you know, he's he's not alone. I know that
a lot of people, you know, face this battle and
and quite often feel like, you know, like maybe they
can't talk about it as openly as as as what
(03:56):
we should. And I guess that's that's sort of the
aim of the walk as well.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
As nice Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And so we are about
awareness and about bringing you know, different organizations together that
bringing people together. You know, trauma and mental illness it is,
it is very individual, but the impact of it is
widespread and it has a real ripple effects. So what
(04:24):
we aim to do is have you know, the more
more provided, the more different organizations that want to be
a part of our event to be a part of it,
because we want everyone to know as well that there
is more than one option available to you. So like
for example, my husband when when he got back from
Afghanistan and he was very very impacted by PTSD and
(04:47):
still is today, but the health and the services that
are available at that point in time were very very limited,
and so he went to university. We were in that
position that he went to and study psychology things. He
was able to take that step. Not everybody can, and
(05:07):
not everybody has those different avenues or you know, has
the I guess support to look at those different avenues.
And so that's where we really want to try and
have as many organizations available so that you know, people
can go and see different and see you, look and
feel and connect because you really do. When it comes
(05:29):
to your health and your well being, and particularly something
that is so personal as your mental illness and something
that is often really difficult to speak about, you need
to be able to connect with the person that you
are going to go down that pathway with.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now, tell me when's the event happening? How can people
get involved? Tell us a little bit more about it, Daddy, of.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Course, So this Saturday is the event. So seven am
is the first round of walkers, so it is the
ultimate challenge. Is a twenty kilometer walk with a twenty
kilogram pack. But it's a whole family event, so we
really want as many people and as much of the
community down there. So it's the East Point five kilometer loop,
(06:19):
so it's a beautiful walk around. So you can complete five, ten,
fifteen or twenty kilometers on either our Facebook page Walking
Off the Wall within an annual event, or our website
walkoffww dot com and follow the links there to register.
Now it is a free event. People can make a
(06:39):
donation if they choose, but the walk, as I mentioned,
is an awareness event, so all money that we do
raise that as part of the event, I donate back
into services that are working in the space of mental illness,
particularly for our frontline servicemen and women and our veterans
on adaily basis locally in Darwin. So I made all
(07:02):
of that back at the end of the event, so
once we've paid out all of our you know for
the jumping castle and so forth. Yeah, So East Point
Reserve Saturday morning. If you're wanting to do the twenty
kilometer or the fifteen kilometer, please come down by about
six forty five am. And if you're coming to do
(07:23):
the five or the ten kilometer, about seven forty five
am for an eight am kickoff would be great. The
reason that we do the two different start times is
so that everyone then finishes roughly the same time and
it will then be a real community space, shifting around,
catch up with people, meet people that you haven't met before,
(07:45):
speak to the different services that are there, take advantage
of the delicious food that will be on offer. We'll
have water, we'll have some gatorade, fit things like that.
Everything's provided for all the participants. There be I a
zooper doopers and yeah, so good stuff, really family community
(08:06):
event and we want everyone there.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Good stuff. Well NT coordinator of Walking Off the War
Within Danny Evely really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks
very much for chatting with us.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Thanks so much, Katie, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Thank you.
Now there are some wonderful events happening at the moment,
and a special walk is happening in Darwin this weekend
to on a firefighter at Australian soldier Nathan Shanahan, who
took his life in twenty sixteen. The event, as I
know you've heard about in previous years as well, is
called walking off the War Within, and it's all about
(00:20):
building connections with others and represents the journey of overcoming
the internal battles at many face after serving in the
military or experiencing traumatic events. Joining us on the line
to talk more about this is the Northern Territory coordinator,
Danny Everly. Good morning to you, Danny.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
How are you Yeah, really well Danny, this is such
a wonderful event. How many years are we at now
for the Northern Territory, Katie?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
This year's number seven. So obviously, as you've mentioned before,
Nathan had Losey's Battle in twenty sixteen, so we kicked
off in twenty seventeen with really just a walk in
his honor and his memory, and we didn't I think
at that point in time expect the amount of people
(01:11):
that did come out till have come out so and
it really did connect with so many, you know, that
messaging of walking off the wall within and particularly with
how you know we encourage people with or without a
pack to do the walk, so the pack being representative
of that weight of what mental illness can do to
(01:32):
a person.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Now, you know, for those out there who didn't know Nathan,
what kind of bloke was he?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh? My goodness. So one of Nate's nicknames was the
Mule because he was just that big meal of a man.
He was a gentle giant, just a softly spoken, really humble, wonderful,
wonderful human being, and we none of us realized what
(02:03):
he was going through. Naith was that he did a
walk himself, which is where walking off the war cape,
but what war within came from. So he actually walked
four hundred kilometers between mil Dura and Adelaide in twenty
fifteen and was the face of soldier on for that
and that really, I guess surprised a lot of us
(02:27):
at that point in time, but for him, who have
then lost his battle of the year after we were flowed,
we really were. So Nate was my husband's loader in
the army, and you know, we were quite close family friends.
So Ma's beautiful wife Kosher was a good friend of
mine as well. And you know, it is one of
(02:49):
those things when you know, big big early blokes or
you know, the army guys or our police and our fieries,
and they experienced these and on a on an often
regular basis and really do just have to put on
a brave face and go at it again. And unfortunately,
(03:10):
I think if they have had to continue to put
on those brave faces at times that it is as
those situations we then we take for granted and you
know we haven't we don't look into as much or
we don't delve into and and that was the situation
with Nate, like we just you know, we didn't expect
it because we had never spoken about it. You know,
(03:31):
things just just kept we just kept moving forward.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, Oh, it's so bloody sad, and it's you know,
and I think it's it's what's even sad? Or is
I you know, he's he's not alone. I know that
a lot of people, you know, face this battle and
and quite often feel like, you know, like maybe they
can't talk about it as openly as as as what
(03:56):
we should. And I guess that's that's sort of the
aim of the walk as well.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
As nice Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And so we are about
awareness and about bringing you know, different organizations together that
bringing people together. You know, trauma and mental illness it is,
it is very individual, but the impact of it is
widespread and it has a real ripple effects. So what
(04:24):
we aim to do is have you know, the more
more provided, the more different organizations that want to be
a part of our event to be a part of it,
because we want everyone to know as well that there
is more than one option available to you. So like
for example, my husband when when he got back from
Afghanistan and he was very very impacted by PTSD and
(04:47):
still is today, but the health and the services that
are available at that point in time were very very limited,
and so he went to university. We were in that
position that he went to and study psychology things. He
was able to take that step. Not everybody can, and
(05:07):
not everybody has those different avenues or you know, has
the I guess support to look at those different avenues.
And so that's where we really want to try and
have as many organizations available so that you know, people
can go and see different and see you, look and
feel and connect because you really do. When it comes
(05:29):
to your health and your well being, and particularly something
that is so personal as your mental illness and something
that is often really difficult to speak about, you need
to be able to connect with the person that you
are going to go down that pathway with.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now, tell me when's the event happening? How can people
get involved? Tell us a little bit more about it, Daddy, of.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Course, So this Saturday is the event. So seven am
is the first round of walkers, so it is the
ultimate challenge. Is a twenty kilometer walk with a twenty
kilogram pack. But it's a whole family event, so we
really want as many people and as much of the
community down there. So it's the East Point five kilometer loop,
(06:19):
so it's a beautiful walk around. So you can complete five, ten,
fifteen or twenty kilometers on either our Facebook page Walking
Off the Wall within an annual event, or our website
walkoffww dot com and follow the links there to register.
Now it is a free event. People can make a
(06:39):
donation if they choose, but the walk, as I mentioned,
is an awareness event, so all money that we do
raise that as part of the event, I donate back
into services that are working in the space of mental illness,
particularly for our frontline servicemen and women and our veterans
on adaily basis locally in Darwin. So I made all
(07:02):
of that back at the end of the event, so
once we've paid out all of our you know for
the jumping castle and so forth. Yeah, So East Point
Reserve Saturday morning. If you're wanting to do the twenty
kilometer or the fifteen kilometer, please come down by about
six forty five am. And if you're coming to do
(07:23):
the five or the ten kilometer, about seven forty five
am for an eight am kickoff would be great. The
reason that we do the two different start times is
so that everyone then finishes roughly the same time and
it will then be a real community space, shifting around,
catch up with people, meet people that you haven't met before,
(07:45):
speak to the different services that are there, take advantage
of the delicious food that will be on offer. We'll
have water, we'll have some gatorade, fit things like that.
Everything's provided for all the participants. There be I a
zooper doopers and yeah, so good stuff, really family community
(08:06):
event and we want everyone there.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Good stuff. Well NT coordinator of Walking Off the War
Within Danny Evely really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks
very much for chatting with us.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Thanks so much, Katie, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Thank you.
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