Thousands of veterans across the south to benefit from new network joining support groups together that 'could help save lives'

Portsmouth-based Veterans Outreach Support (VOS) has been selected to lead a range of veteran-focused groups to form the Partnership in Mind.

Utilising an £800,000 grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust over the next two years, the partnership will aim to ensure no veterans ‘fall through the cracks’ as every type of support for their wellbeing and mental health is covered.

Included in the network are groups from areas stretching across the south east with Fighting With Pride in Brighton, Veterans’ Growth in Hastings, First Light Trust in Gosport, Kent Arts and Wellbeing, and Veterans in Action and the Defence Medical Welfare Service both in Andover – as well as nationwide groups the Veterans Community Network, The Poppy Factory and Walking With The Wounded.

Each one is able to provide something different for ex-servicemen and women – whether addiction or debt support, help finding jobs, social gatherings or hands-on activities such as fixing cars.

And it is hoped this approach will allow any veteran to find the help they need in a much quicker and more ‘joined up’ way.

Falklands veteran and chief executive officer of VOS, Ian Millen, believed better coordination between the services would help address many of the issues faced by the community.

‘In over 14 years of operation, VOS has observed that many of our service users have complex, inter-related problems, and it is widely accepted that housing, debt and employment problems can directly lead to mental health challenges, just as mental health and addiction challenges can lead to problems in relationships, housing, employment, debt and many other areas,’ he said.

‘This will join up already successful providers into a really strong collaborative network in the south east of England. All the projects here are doing great work in themselves. But by joining together we are stronger than the sum of our parts.’

He added: ‘I think the pandemic has introduced additional challenges for us. We have looked after 2,000 people over our whole time and I know some of them during the pandemic we lost contact because they were looking after their own health.

‘We are anticipating there will be more mental health issues as a fall out from the pandemic.’

According to the Ministry of Defence annual population survey, published in 2019, just under 20 per cent of armed forces veterans live in the south east.

And figures published by south east based charity Veterans Gateway in 2021 showed that more than 14 per cent of all calls received were related to various categories of mental wellbeing.

Dorinda Murray, chief executive officer of the First Light Trust – which has a cafe in Gosport open to veterans as well as other civilians – said: ‘By doing this we are mapping out services across the south east.

‘We allow people to come into our cafes and socialise but also have our support officers available who can offer help with debt, addiction and mental health. And we are organising walks for veterans to take part in.

’But now if we speak with someone who could for example benefit from working on cars we can put them in touch with Veterans in Action. Or if there’s someone involved with Fighting With Pride who wants to join in on one of our walks they can.

‘This partnership could help save lives. It’s also about having that trust to work with other groups.’

The £800,000 funding for Partnership in Mind comes as part of the Veterans’ Places, Pathways and People (VPPP) programme, a nationwide scheme, which will see 10 veteran support networks developed across the UK.

Earlier this year The News reported concerns military veterans were at risk of suicide due to long waits within the NHS system.

Mark Francois, the former minister for Portsmouth and ex-armed forces minister, said lives were being needlessly lost due to delays in treatment.

In the south east the Solent NHS Trust has been involved with the forming of the new partnership.

Andy Spencer, armed forces lead for the trust, said: ‘Within the NHS there are certain things that we can provide but other things we’re not able to.

‘The hope is that by having this support network in place veterans are able to access these groups best suited to their needs and then when they come to the NHS they are therapy-ready.

‘And hopefully the pathway for them seeking help is much more seamless and clear cut.’

Royal engineers veteran Billy Mcleod, who founded the Veterans in Action group 13 years ago, said the new formation was a ‘step in the right direction.’

‘This is a great start to something I’ve been trying to get going for years,’ he said.

‘Before groups were limited in working together because of funding but now this joint funding allows us to properly collaborate.’

For more information about Veterans Outreach Support visit vosuk.org.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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