The inaugural Walking Off The War Within showed that the legacy of ex-serviceman, firefighter and fierce mental health advocate Nathan Shanahan will live on. Since Nathan died by suicide after a long battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, his father John Shanahan has vowed to address what he sees as a lack of services. 

On Saturday more than 2000 Australians joined John in his bid for support, walking 20 kilometres of Victoria Park to share the burden and spread the message – that PTSD disorder is killing our veterans, emergency service workers and everyday Australians.

Ballarat MP and Federal Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King said the turnout at the inaugural Walk Off The War Within showed the desperate need for a re-structure of mental health services. 

“One (issue) is the co-ordination of services, if you had cancer there is a pathway of services (that a person seeks),” Ms King said.

“Mental health treatment should be in exactly the space – from diagnosis to treatment right through to cure-  right across the country.”

John has backed National Mental Health Commission’s chief executive officer Peggy Brown’s call to better include families in mental health support programs. 

“Nathan’s dark day were our dark days – but his dark days were even darker than ours,” John said.

“At times – as a family member of someone experiencing PTSD – you feel totally helpless.” 

Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the grass-roots organised event was strongly supported by senior emergency services management highlighting the desire of all emergency services workers to place a greater focus on mental well-being. 

“We have had a lot of people attend an event based around an issue that is often not openly talked about,” Mr Lapsley said.

“An event like this brings people together and shows that from a situation that is extremely sad people had been able to build an opportunity to show that PTSD is an issue of significance.”