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Whilst clearing out his father’s house, Charlie Barne, grandson of Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Barne came across his grandfather’s war diaries. When Charlie moved from out of London to Wiltshire in 2016, he used his commute to type up, edit and annotate the diaries. The result is a fascinating first-hand account of the entire Second World War from the perspective of ‘Churchill’s Colonel’. In honour of his grandfather, Charlie has decided to donate all of the royalties from the book to Walking With The Wounded.

In my previous article, I noted that the diagnosis of mental health issues in veterans has doubled to 3 per cent in the past decade and I discussed the need to destigmatize veteran mental health. We must be careful about saying there is a problem, and not reacting to address this. In this article, I will explore what the veteran care pathway looks like and how it is being supported by military charities.

Next year marks our 10th anniversary and we want to hear from you.

Mental health problems can affect any individual at any time. World Mental Health Day take place on October 10th and it is observed in more than 100 countries. It presents an opportunity to show our support for better mental health provision and that includes looking after ourselves.

Following the highly successful Mental Health Symposium in London this summer, Walking With The Wounded was invited to meet Home Base at their Centre of Excellence in Boston. Home Base is a partnership of the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital; offering world-class clinical care and support, in addition to fitness and mind-body wellness programmes for Service Members and Veterans who struggle with the invisible wounds of war. They also offer counselling and support to family members.

Every year, thousands of servicemen and woman undergo military training building cohesive teams, spending days, weeks and years working, training and fighting together. However, when military personnel leave the Forces and transition into civilian life, they can sometimes feel isolated and experience feelings of loss.

Chris Carlisle has been an IPS Employment Advisor for many years. He joined Walking With The Wounded (WWTW) in February 2016, at the time in partnership with IPS Provider, Enable, part of Shropshire County Council. Since February 2017 Chris has been employed by WWTW directly.

Each year, M&S stores across the country nominate a local charity to fundraise for and this year, colleagues at M&S Metro Centre have chosen to support Walking With The Wounded (WWTW) until June 2020.

We are extremely grateful to all of our fundraisers who take on extraordinary challenges to raise money for WWTW. On September 8th, a team from Demob Job LTD took on the Great North Run in aid of our charity and raised an impressive £4,000! The team share their thoughts about their experience below:

The majority of British military personnel leave the Armed Forces and enjoy a smooth transition into civilian life, but for some the shift from military to ‘Civvy Street’ is not so straightforward. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Defence found that diagnosis of mental health issues in veterans has doubled to 3 per cent in the past decade. However, some estimate that this figure could be as high as 10 per cent. Veteran mental health is a complex topic; it is important that we normalise conversations around this matter. This is how real change can happen.