Narrandera’s Dr Alarna Vrieling, whose PhD research into the adult children of Australian Vietnam veterans made headlines locally in August, has since been appointed to a national advisory role.

Dr Vrieling has joined the Commissioner’s Advisory Group of the newly established Defence and Veterans’ Services Commission (DVSC), headed by Commissioner Penny McKay.

The DVSC was established in September 2025 as a result of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran’s Suicide.

Its role is to improve suicide prevention and wellbeing outcomes for veterans and serving members by overseeing the government’s implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations.

The Commissioner’s Advisory Group provides the Commissioner with specialist, technical, professional, lived and living experience advice.

The group is comprised of 16 members, who bring a mix of skills, experience and expertise; 12 appointed members alongside standing representatives from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and the National Suicide Prevention Office.

The Advisory Group held its inaugural meeting in Canberra earlier this month.

Dr Vrieling’s appointment to the Advisory Group builds directly on the doctoral research she completed through Charles Sturt University, “Adult Children of Australian Vietnam Veterans: A Silent Generation with a Story to Tell”.

The study revealed the stories of 94 adult children of Vietnam veterans from all over Australia.

The study found this cohort experienced poorer physical and psychological health than the general Australian population, including elevated rates of depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and relationship difficulties, alongside physical health concerns such as skin conditions, congenital abnormalities, musculoskeletal problems, and rare or hard-to-diagnose illnesses.

Findings also revealed a clear statistical link to their fathers’ Agent Orange exposure while deployed, with health effects reported in siblings and even veterans' grandchildren.

Since its publication in November 2025, Dr Vrieling’s doctoral thesis has been downloaded more than 1350 times.

It has achieved international reach, including into Yale Universities Veterans Legal Clinic. Dr Vrieling’s advice and insights will now help to inform the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commissioner’s work and functions - holding the government to account for the meaningful implementation of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide’s recommendations.

In her new advisory capacity, Dr Vrieling will draw on both her clinical background as an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker of 20 years’ standing, and the lived-experience evidence gathered from her own research participants.

Dr Vrieling was nominated to the role with the support of Veteran Family Commissioner Annabelle Wilson and Charles Sturt University’s Professor Wendy Bowles and Dr Fredrik Velander.

“Adult children of Vietnam Veterans are significantly under-represented, and I am proud to be giving them a voice on the Commissioner’s Advisory Group” Dr Vrieling said.

For a rural community like Narrandera, with its own strong ties to Defence service, the appointment represents a direct local line into national policy reform, one grounded not in Canberra, but in research that began with the stories of local veterans’ families.