News

Team UK unveiled for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018

The UK team for the 2018 Invictus Games was unveiled this morning in central London.

The first official gathering of the 72-strong team of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) serving military personnel and Veterans took place early this morning at Horse Guards Parade in London.

Help for Heroes is responsible for training, selecting and developing the UK team and this year saw record numbers of hopefuls apply to be on the UK team. The team is comprised of 13 Serving members of the Armed Forces and 59 Veterans. 64% of those selected are new to the Invictus Games.

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New Grant Award: A systematic review and evidence map of research on the mental health needs of serving and ex-serving personnel

Forces in Mind Trust has awarded the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) £95,877 to conduct a systematic review of evidence of the mental health needs of serving and ex-Service personnel and their families since 2012.

The 9-month project will cover all three services, in the context of their transition to civilian life, and will include the perspectives of key stakeholders. Areas where the evidence is strong and where there are gaps in evidence will be recorded, and where evidence allows, recommendations will be made for the attention of policy makers and service providers, along with future areas on which to focus research.

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The Call Of Duty™ Endowment opens its 2018 “Seal of Distinction” submissions for US and UK ogranisations

The Sixth Annual Award Consideration Starts Today Until June 1 in U.S. and U.K.

London, UK (May 14, 2018) – The Call of Duty Endowment today begins its application process for the sixth annual “Seal of Distinction” Awards, recognising U.S. and U.K. based non-profits that demonstrate the highest levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity in placing ex-service personnel into high-quality jobs.

The prestigious award for grantees is accompanied by a £23,000 unrestricted grant, as well as the opportunity to apply for future funding. Past beneficiaries include: Goodwill Southern California, Goodwill of the Olympics and Rainer Region, NextOp, RFEA – The Forces Employment Charity, and Walking With the Wounded.

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Deptherapy Team mark IYOR 2018 with launch of new environmental project

A team of UK Armed Forces veterans is launching a project to ‘give back’ to the marine environment that they credit with turning their lives around.

The 30 wounded in service veterans, all suffering from life changing physical and / or mental injuries, are Programme Members of scuba diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy.

The aim of the ‘Protecting Our Oceans’ project is to raise awareness of the fragility of the world’s oceans and for each Deptherapy Programme Member to make their own practical contribution to environmental protection to help safeguard the future.

The project comes at a time when the world’s attention is increasingly focused on environmental sustainability, the scourge of plastic pollution and the health of the planet. 2018 has been designated the Third International Year of the Reef (IYOR 2018).

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Northampton blind veteran to take on 22-mile walk along D-Day beaches for military charity

A blind veteran from Northampton is currently training to take part in a 22 mile walk along on the Normandy coastline to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day.

Peter O’Malley, 61 and from Duston, will take part in the event alongside five other blind veterans supported by Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women. The challenge will take place on 6 June, the anniversary of the 1944 Allied invasion of occupied France.

Peter says: “I know that it will be hard work, particularly as I am vision-impaired and the course takes in rough terrain, but I don’t think sight loss should stop you taking on a challenge.”

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Forces Network Focuses on Mental Health Awareness Week 14-20th May

The Forces Network is broadcasting a week-long series of reports and interviews looking at mental health issues in forces communities.

Forces TV will show clips online taken from a recent interview with Prince Harry. He describes how his experiences in Afghanistan were the trigger to deal with his own mental health problems:

“Not to get too personal but if you lose your mum at the age of 12 then you’ve got to deal with it.

“…15, 17 years later, I still hadn’t dealt with it. Afghan was the moment …”

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Military Charity Blesma, The Limbless Veterans seek people for fundraising week

A military charity that supports veterans and serving personnel who have lost limbs, or the use of limbs, are looking for people across the UK to sign up to Blesma Week and hold a fundraising event in their local area.

Blesma Week kicks off on Monday 28 May and will include two bucket collections at Canary Wharf and Kings Cross Underground stations. During the week of fundraising and awareness-raising, communities and companies all over the UK (and even overseas) are encouraged to get involved in a Blesma event or organise their own fundraising activity.

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Gallantry Art partners with veterans’ mental health charity

Gallantry Art has announced it will be supporting veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress through the sale of artwork on its online gallery.

The gallery, that exclusively sells artwork created by both serving personnel and former servicemen and women, will donate 10% of profits to Combat Stress. This donation will support the work the charity does to help former servicemen and women deal with trauma-related mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Help for Heroes has grant funded more than £1 million to the NHS

Military charity Help for Heroes has grant funded more than £1 million to the NHS to ensure Veterans suffering from mental health problems will get quicker access to support.

Help for Heroes, which offers support to Veterans and Service Personnel who have suffered life changing injuries or illnesses, is grant funding £517,389 to Veterans’ NHS Wales, £431,109 to Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and a further £178,000 to The Change Step Project, a Veteran to Veteran peer mentoring scheme.

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300,000 Veterans living with hearing loss in the UK – Legion urges veterans to seek help during deaf awareness week

The Royal British Legion is calling on the UK’s veteran community to seek help during Deaf Awareness Week, after finding that 300,000 ex-service personnel are living with hearing loss.

Whilst the life-changing issues of PTSD and limb loss are widely recognised as results of warfare and Service, relatively little attention has been given to the number of ex-service personnel living with hearing loss, or the support made available to them.

Hearing loss can have a profound effect an individual’s quality of life, and has been linked to depression, stress and loneliness as well as reduced physical and mental health.

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By @Cobseo 56 years ago

Afghanistan support

In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here