This event presents the first-wave findings of an ongoing longitudinal project funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) called Sanctions, Support and Service Leavers: Welfare conditionality and transitions from military to civilian life. This ground breaking project represents the first substantive research focusing specifically on veterans’ experiences of the social security benefits system in their transition to civilian life.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust has awarded funds of £126,872 to seAp, a charity that provides free advocacy services, to conduct a three-year evaluation of their Military Advocacy Service.
Initially a pilot scheme in Oxfordshire in 2013, the service was founded through seAp’s statutory mental health advocacy work, where they encountered ex-Service personnel who felt unable to access statutory services to meet their specific needs.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has awarded £115K to the OA, to identify the transition challenges and barriers that all ranks of Service leavers aged 50 plus face when entering civilian employment.
This is the first time the specific challenges that older Service leavers encounter on the transition pathway will be examined.
Spanning a year, the project will take a tri-Service approach and cover all ranks. The research will be carried out with the Centre for Research into the Older Workforce (CROW) who specialise in research into employability of the older population.
Read moreNew research commissioned by Stoll and Riverside, released today [Tuesday 6th March] at an event at the House of Lords, highlights how some vulnerable ex-Service personnel in crisis are not accessing support services resulting in homelessness after leaving the Armed Forces.
The Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) funded research, conducted by York University, found that of participating veterans, many experienced inconsistent quality of advice on transitioning from Service and inadequate support from Local Housing Authorities in the years after leaving service, many of whom did not identify the specialist support available to veterans.
Read moreThe Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), established to help ex-Service personnel and their families make a successful and sustainable transition back to civilian life, has appointed five new Directors to its Board: Ross Campbell, Anaїs Reding, Nick Roberts, Robert Robson and Andrew Ward.
Ross Campbell is the Director, Public Sector at the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales (ICAEW) where he leads the Institute’s work to improve standards in the management of the Public Finances, both in the UK and internationally.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has awarded funds of £154,198.23 to the University of Liverpool and King’s College London, to conduct a 15-month study into understanding which ex-Service personnel are more likely to recognise that they have an alcohol problem, and then who goes on to seek help for it.
Evidence already available shows high levels of alcohol misuse in ex-Service personnel, which is worsened by the fact that many do not recognise they have a problem, and of those who do, most do not seek help.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust is delighted to award a grant of £183,500 to the Invictus Games Foundation, to explore the long-term impact of sport participation through an examination of the Invictus Games (IG), and to identify best practices to support the long-term well-being of serving and ex-Service personnel who are wounded, injured and sick (WIS).
The four-year project, entitled Beyond the Finish Line, will assess whether the competitors’ well-being improves significantly compared to non-competitors, and measure the duration of the difference.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT), a grant awarding body with the aim of enabling all ex-Service personnel and their families to have a successful and sustainable transition to civilian life, has just passed a significant milestone – their 100th grant award.
The award to Cranfield University, for £96,688, coincides with the celebration of 100 years of women serving in the UK Armed Forces. The focus of this work is to explore the transition that female Service leavers make from the Armed Forces to civilian employment.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT), which works to ensure all ex-Service personnel and their families successfully transition to civilian life, has appointed Amazon PR to provide strategic communications and influencing services following a competitive tender.
Established in 2012 with a £35 million endowment from the Big Lottery Fund, FiMT awards grants, commissions research and supports projects that deliver long-term solutions to the challenges faced by the Armed Forces Community.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT) and the Directory of Social Change (DSC) today (25 January) release the report Focus On: Armed Forces Charities’ Physical Health Provision, which reveals that 121 charities deliver services to at least 250,000 beneficiaries in the Armed Forces Community.
This ground-breaking research maps for the first time Armed Forces charities’ physical health support with the charities spending at least £103 million on physical health provision last year.
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Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here
