Subscribe to our newsletter!
Countdown to End of Financial Year!
They protect us. Help us protect them.
Every day, Victoria’s emergency service workers – paid and volunteer – make an enormous contribution to our community. According to Fire to Light, first responders experience 1,000% to 25,000% more trauma than the general population. Unsurprisingly, rates of psychological distress and PTSD are significantly higher across the sector.
The impact is real – and it doesn’t just affect the workers themselves, but also their families, colleagues, and communities.
That’s where ESF comes in.
We deliver vital, preventative programs to protect the mental health and wellbeing of those who protect us. Working in collaboration with wellbeing managers across our 15 member agencies, we design initiatives that fill the gaps and complement existing supports — from peer-led training to leadership development, family support, and trauma-informed recovery programs.
This EOFY, your tax-deductible donation can help fund this work and strengthen the mental health safety net for Victoria’s emergency service workers.
It’s tax-deductible. It’s urgent. And it matters.
Donate before 30 June — so they can keep showing up for themselves, and for us.
Tony's Trek 2026: Paddling for Awareness
Next year our Chair, Tony Pearce, will embark on an unsupported, solo 2,400 kilometer paddle down the Murray River to raise awareness of the profound mental health challenges faced by our emergency workers, and to acknowledge the impact of that on their families.
Murray River Paddle to Support Emergency Workers’ Mental Health will begin mid April 2026.
Following the success of Tony’s Trek – One Step at a time in 2023 and Tony’s Trek – Side by Side 2024 in Nepal, I am proud to announce that I will begin Tony’s Trek 2026 – Paddle for Awareness on 12 April 2026.
This is an unsupported, solo 2,400 kilometer paddle down the Murray River. My aim is to raise awareness of the profound mental health challenges faced by our emergency workers, and to acknowledge the impact of that on their families.
Starting in Bringenbrong New South Wales and finishing at the mouth of the Murray at Goolwa in South Australia, I expect this journey to take approximately 60 days, Along the way I will take every opportunity to shine a light on the often hidden and unrecognised toll that emergency work takes on those who serve our community because the statistics are damning, and we must do better.
According to a study led by Beyond Blue:
1 in 3 emergency service workers experience high or very high psychological distress.
The majority of all mental injury WorkCover claims come from emergency services workers.
Only 37% emergency workers with a mental injury claim are back at work in 6 months which is below the scheme average.
And more emergency workers than ever before are unable to return to work at all.
This solo journey down the mighty Murray River will be both a physical and mental challenge for me, and this is my way of acknowledging the daily challenges faced by our emergency workers.
Along the way, I will connect with local communities, share stories of lived experience and resilience, which will undoubtedly highlight the need for robust mental health resources and support systems. Along the way I hope to raise vital funds for the Emergency Services Foundation to do its important work of developing evidence informed programs that enhance and promote wellbeing for our emergency services personnel.
In 2023, Tony’s Trek raised vital funds to help deliver a pilot residential wellbeing program, and in 2024 funds raised went towards the development of a new Lived Experience program.
In 2026 I hope to raise funds to help maintain the momentum of the highly effective Residential Wellbeing Program, so even more people can benefit.
I invite you to come on this journey with me by offering your support—whether by following my progress, spreading the message, or contributing to the cause.
Better together. That’s what we aim to be.
The Emergency Services Foundation (ESF) is proud to announce a new partnership with Safe Steps to pilot a DFV Support Network in 2025.
This free program is open to all Victorian volunteer emergency service/ management volunteer leaders.
The independent evaluation of ESF’s Residential Wellbeing Program pilot, overseen by Phoenix Australia and Findex, is now available. The findings show the program is immensely impactful from both a personal and organisational perspective.
