We sit down with Danny Jeffery to 'have a chat' and explore the profound transition following his 35-year career in the Royal Australian Air Force, which included multiple deployments and his medical discharge in 2018. Danny opens up about the immense challenges of living with PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, and Anxiety—a journey that led him through moments of deep despair to finding new direction. He shares how the Invictus Games offered a path to recovery and the crucial realization that helped him survive his darkest days: "I just didn’t want to live the way I was living." Now, as an Emergency Department Peer Navigator, Danny is dedicated to offering support and mentorship, showing that acceptance of the "new me" is the key to finding hope.

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Danny Jeffery was medically discharged from the Royal Australian Air Force in 2018 after serving the Defence Force for 35 years. Danny deployed on nine separate ADF Operations and suffered multiple physical injuries and has adapted his life to suit them. He is also living with PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety Disorder. His mental health is the biggest struggle and diversity he has ever faced in his life.

Danny’s mental health first fell apart in 2013 after returning from 8.5 months in Afghanistan. After 85 combat missions, Danny returned home claiming mission success, so he thought. Mentally his world fell apart without the pace of war to distract him. He finally had time to process things and just could not. ‘I just didn’t fit in back here at home, flashbacks consumed my days and nightmares consumed my sleep. I just wanted to go back in the hope that would help’.

In 2014 Danny discovered the Invictus Games. He felt that good he deployed to the Middle East again in 2015.  Danny suffered a major mental health episode and returned in Nov 2015 to never wear a uniform again. In 2015 Danny was not going to give up on his pathway to recovery and successfully returned to the Invictus Games Orlando 2016 and Sydney 2018. After long term rehabilitation he was medically discharged in 2018. Throughout these dark days Danny experienced what he calls his ‘suicide chapter’ and is a proud survivor. ‘Finally in life I was not good at something, and it helped me realise that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to live anymore, I just didn’t want to live the way I was living, and I had the power to make changes.’

Danny is now a Licensed Mental Health First Aid instructor and is currently the Emergency Department Peer Navigator at Prince of Wales Hospital Sydney. He is embedded within a clinical team which is a first for NSW Health. Danny encourages hope for recovery and offers support and mentorship to those struggling with their mental health. He is passionate about removing the stigma and barriers people face when struggling with mental health and wants everyone to have the realisation that ‘it is possible to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. The biggest thing for me when I reached the light, was accepting the new me and I actually like this version’.