The Challeges that Face Armed Forces Veterans

The Challeges that Face Armed Forces Veterans

When many hear the term Veteran' they might think of the Cenotaph in London once a year with the ever diminishing amount of World War 2 Veterans marching past, others may think of US Vietnam War Veterans. The term is also used to refer to Veteran footballers, Veteran Authors ....the list could go on, but what is a veteran?

When we speak of veterans here at The National Veterans Awareness Campaign, we refer to ex-armed forces veterans. The definition as laid down by the Government for a veteran is:

Anyone who has served in any branch of the Armed Forces (Army, Royal Navy, Royal Airforce) either regular or reserve service (Territorial Army etc) male or female and from the age of 18 years onwards. Includes those who have served in The Gurkhas, Former National Service personnel, Commonwealth citizens who served in the UK Armed Forces and members of the Merchant Navy who saw service on a UK War Time operation. They must have served a minimum of one day.'

So it is quite a wide definition and many who qualify might not even realise that they are veterans. A veteran doesn't have to have served on any operation in conflict. There are around 4.5million veterans in the UK and together with their families they make a 10 million strong veterans community.

Issues include;Anger, Alcohol, Homelessness, PTSD, Depression, Adjustment problems and a feeling that they just don't belong in civilian society. Many who leave the Armed Forces go onto have little or no problems. 4%leave the Armed Forces with PTSD relating to service each year and around 20% with depression. There are around 20,000 service leavers each year.

The most vulnerable to developing mental health problems are the early service leavers, those who are age 18-25 and particularly those who are single. This age group are one of the most vulnerable to developing mental health problems and suicide. Together with this age group vulnerability, ex service personnel also have the added problem of trying to adjust from a military to a civilian life. Early service leavers are 2-3 times more likely to attempt suicide than people in the same age group who haven't seen military service.

The problem is that despite the size of the veterans community around 80% of GP's aren't aware that veterans have entitlement to priority healthcare in the NHS (according to local need). Many primary care frontline staff aren't aware of this entitlement. Veterans are difficult to identify but then the question isn't routinely asked on referrals or assessments.

The National Veterans Awareness Campaign aims to raise awareness through the provision of seminars, conferences, workshops to public sector including the NHS. We aim to raise awareness to the Veterans themselves. Given that we are run by veterans this means that other veterans will be more likely to want to speak to us. We will also provide Workshops for the families and friends of veterans to raise their awareness of the issues.

Do you know anyone who would benefit from attending a Military Veterans Awareness Workshop? If so forward this email onto them. Do you know of businesses that would be willing to sponsor The National Veterans Awareness Campaign? If so pass this message onto them and help us to run our campaign and raise awareness and contribute towards Armed Forces Veterans being more supported by public sector services.

To subscribe visit: http://www.nationalveteransawareness.org.uk

Richard Williams Registered Nurse (Mental Health)

Armed Forces Veteran Director Military Mental Health CIC

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