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Hearing one young participant describe their time at a recent Kookaburra Kids day as the "best afternoon ever" was music to the ears of organisers and veteran families.
This year Veterans First Consulting chipped in to help the Kookaburra Kids Foundation bring three super fun family activity days to life.
The Big Bounce Bash and Flip Out Family Fiesta evenings plus the Build & Bullseye day were a great success.
"These events brought young people and their families together in safe, inclusive environments, created opportunities for connection and introduced the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation to new Defence families who may join our ongoing camp programs," said Sara Bellis from Kookaburra Kids.
"For many of these young people, a family activity day is a rare chance to simply be a kid and enjoy time, free from the pressures that service life can place on a household."
The three events introduced children of veterans aged 8 to 18 to other veteran families, with Kookaburra Kids providing a fun environment and educational advice on handling deployment, relocation and the flow-on impact of a parent's mental health issues.
"Reaching families early and building lasting connections ensures children too young to participate in core programs now will grow into young people who know and trust the support available to them," Sara said.
"Our kids are still too young for other activities, so it's so good we can come to this. Hopefully when they are 8 they'll remember it and want to come to a camp!", one of the parents noted.
In total over 100 young people and Defence family members came together across the three events in 2026, which were built around their specific needs.
"It was a really nice opportunity to give families a small taste of what we do in our camp chat groups, particularly those whose children aren't old enough to attend yet," said Ashley Smith from Kookaburra Kids.
"We're so grateful for this activity, most services are either just for the parents or just for the kids. It's great to have something we can do together as a family," another parent added.
"This has been such a wonderful night to spend together, we'd love to support more initiatives like this."
Access to mental-health literacy and open conversation about wellbeing, such as the 'mythbusting' and 'emotions-mapping' activities at Flip Out Villawood, is designed to help young people feel more comfortable discussing how they feel.
"For many of these families, these camps represented one of the only opportunities in the year for their children to spend time in a supportive environment alongside trained clinicians and other families who understand their experience," Sara said.
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