Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has today published new research identifying practical, behaviourally informed solutions to strengthen how Armed Forces families prepare for transition to civilian life.
While many families transition successfully, the journey is not always straightforward. The research highlights that though support is available, there are barriers to accessing, navigating and engaging with it at the right time.
Delivered by Thinks Insight & Strategy, the report sets out three co-created interventions – designed and tested with service families – that are ready to be further developed, piloted and implemented.
Service partners told researchers that support can feel fragmented, jargon-heavy and overly focused on the serving person, leaving families reliant on second-hand information. As a result, engagement with transition support is often reactive, rather than proactive.
The report identifies three strategic opportunities for behaviour change:
- Increase independence for Service partners: enabling them to access information and support directly.
- Improve access to existing support: simplifying pathways and reducing information overload.
- Leverage peer networks: recognising the powerful role of trusted community relationships in shaping decisions.
From these opportunities, three practical interventions were co-created and demonstrated encouraging results in early user testing:
- A personalised transition journey map: an interactive tool helping families understand where they are in their transition journey, what comes next, and which support is most relevant to them.
- An AI-enabled chatbot: an interactive, conversational tool helping partners quickly find tailored, jargon-free guidance and signposting to trusted support services.
- Partner focused careers support: careers events or hubs designed specifically for service partners. These provide practical employment advice, opportunities to connect with employers, and space to build peer networks.
These interventions do not introduce entirely new, stand-alone systems. They are designed to help families access and navigate existing support earlier and more easily.
Method
The research involved more than 40 Service partners in in-depth qualitative research, to map the transition journey from a family perspective, identifying key barriers to successful transition. This was followed by a full-day co-creation workshop with partners and relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Defence, single services families’ federations, and other service charities. Digital prototypes were then developed and tested with 37 additional Service partners and 5 former Service personnel to assess usability, relevance and impact.
Ella Jenkins, Behavioural Science Lead at Thinks Insight & Strategy, said:
“This research shows that the challenge isn’t a shortage of support – it’s how that support is experienced. When information feels overwhelming, inaccessible or designed for someone else, even the best services can go unused.
“By working directly with service partners and applying behavioural science, we’ve been able to turn abstract challenges into practical tools that make the future feel more concrete, reduce cognitive overload, and give partners greater independence.
“The next step is to move from promising prototypes to real-world pilots – layering these interventions into existing systems so they genuinely change behaviour and improve outcomes for service families.”
Michelle Alston, Chief Executive Forces in Mind Trust, said:
“Service families are essential to the operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces. While many transition out of the Armed Forces very successfully, not all families currently experience the same level of support or positive outcomes.
“Therefore, it is exciting to see new and innovative methods for improving the transition journey for the whole family unit that have been created by, and with, Service families. However, these interventions will have the greatest impact when they are not delivered in isolation but instead adapted and implemented in partnership with service delivery organisations.”
What’s next
The next step is to further develop and test these promising interventions. Forces in Mind Trust is calling on service delivery partners, charities, Defence stakeholders and technology providers to collaborate in refining, piloting and evaluating these interventions at scale.
The report includes further details on what this journey could look like, along with a detailed explanation of the interventions and methodologies.
