We were delighted to welcome Bob Elliott from Veterans in Communities to come and speak to us about the work that they do to support the families of Veterans and female veterans accessing their services.
Bob told us that 25% of individuals leave the forces with some form of mental health diagnoses with about 4% being diagnosed with PTSD. He spoke with great feeling about the impact on partners and children of people leaving the forces who don’t recognise that they need help. The isolation that veterans face compounds any mental health diagnosis.
It was encouraging to learn about the wide variety of activities that Veterans in Communities makes available to those accessing its services including walking, art and singing groups a workshop and an allotment. Bob thanked SI Rossendale for donations that they had previously made to the work of Veterans.
We are all off now to scour our bookshelves to donate books to the Tesco book fair initiative that will provide additional funding for Veterans.