Every day is Anzac Day for former commando

For former Special Forces commando Tim Thomas, every day is Anzac Day.

"There's that saying, 'Lest We Forget'," he tells AAP.

"For years, I just wanted to forget. I kept seeing my dead mates' faces, every sunrise and sunset."

Now, with stints in East Timor and Afghanistan behind him, the father of two says he's found a purpose to his pain.

Namely, he's dedicated to helping others struggling with the psychological scars of service through his work as a liaison officer with Mates4Mates.

The organisation supports current and former Australian Defence Force personnel who are wounded, ill or injured.

One of Tim's main concerns is helping those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder reclaim a sense of peace in their daily lives.

It's a challenge because someone in the throes of PTSD, he explains, is like a driver behind the wheel of a speeding car.

"Some guys can't sit still and talk to a psychologist," the Brisbane-based veteran says.

"Everything around them is a blur."

To combat this, Mates4Mates has been trialling a new method to soothe sufferers' overstimulated nervous system.

And it does it by getting them underwater.

Freediving relies on the diver's capacity to hold their breath and champions economical movement over physical exertion.

It also involves having a buddy watching from the surface - a practice that evokes the bonds of trust formed among soldiers.

"Parts of freediving layer very nicely into the military way of doing things, but have the opposite effect on the nervous system," Tim says.

With a pilot course down and two more slated for 2016, he stresses the program is still in its early stages.

But it's showing promise as a way to help service personnel remember there's a world beyond their trauma.

"When you keep immersing yourself, you start to change," he says.

"It does feel like there's something outside of you."