WWTW Celebrate 11 Year Anniversary

Since the charity was founded in 2010 we have organised and run ambitious expeditions to extreme parts of the world to tell the stories of teams of wounded servicemen and women, both those with physical and mental injuries. From our first expedition in 2011, with a team of 4 completing a 13-day trek across 190 miles of the polar ice cap, the charity has gone onto tackle the South Pole, climbed Everest, walked the length of Britain, crossed the USA, culminating in the charity’s latest expedition to the deserts of Oman announced in 2020.

Although expeditions are an important part of the WWTW DNA, the aims of the charity remain client first. A year after the charity was founded, in 2011, WWTW marked the launch of our employment programme. Since its conception, the programme has adopted the Individual Placement & Support (IPS) model to assist UK veterans who are unemployed, being awarded the IPS Award of Excellence in 2018, and spanning the breadth of the country, with advisors covering as far north as Glasgow down to London. In 2020, the programme supported a record, 626 veterans into employment.

In 2015, WWTW continued to develop our veteran support with the launch of our mental health programme, Head Start. The programme provides 1-2-1 private therapy for ex-service personnel with mild to moderately severe mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety, PTSD and adjustment disorder. Therapy is provided via face-to-face and digital sessions.

In the same year, WWTW continued to expand across the country launching a hub in the North West with the help of Nick Knowles and BBC DIY SOS: The Big Build. Following the success of Walking With The Wounded's first Regional Service Hub in the North West of England, the Charity’s North East Service, launched in 2019, continues to grow and expand.

Despite the pandemic, WWTW has continued to go strength-to-strength, and in an unprecedented year, our team supported 2827 service users, a 51% increase on 2019. 2020 also saw the expansion of the North East Service, the launch of the charity’s latest expedition, The Walk of Oman, and finishing the year with a record-breaking Walking Home For Christmas.

Thanks to your support, 2021 will be bigger and better than ever as the charity continues to expand into new ventures with the NHS and the new High Intensity Service (HIS), a new mental health pathfinder for ex-military. Looking forward, we will be increasing the number of hubs to focus on a more regional approach to our holistic services whilst continuing to develop support to ex-military and their families through the expansion of our Criminal Justice support programme, Project Nova, and our veteran-focused volunteer programme, OP-REGEN. Crucially, ‘Client First’ remains at the heart of everything we do and as we look ahead to 2021 and beyond, and we are honoured to continue to support those who served. 

Find out more about our programmes here

Interested in getting involved with OP-REGEN? Register your interest here