News & Policy

UK serving and ex-Service personnel experiencing mental health problems such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and anxiety disorders, and alcohol misuse need earlier identification and better support, according to a new review commissioned by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) and conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has awarded £133,150 to the University of Chester to conduct research to examine how an advertising campaign can motivate ex-Service personnel to register with Primary Health Care practices.

Today, the King’s Centre for Military Health Research is holding its annual Veterans’ Mental Health Conference at King’s College London. Co-supported and sponsored by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), this conference is providing a range of stakeholders including medical practitioners, third sector providers, academics, and government ministers with the opportunity to share knowledge, best practice, and recent research on mental health issues effecting the ex-Service community.

Today Johnny Mercer, the Minister for Veterans, has announced additional mental health support for vulnerable veterans.  In response, Air Vice-Marshal Ray Lock CBE, Chief Executive at the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), the leading research and policy grant-making charity working in the armed forces community, said:

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has awarded funds of £50,500 to the Contact Group to support its programme of work over two years.

Forces in Mind Trust has awarded a grant of £310,144 to the King’s Centre for Military Health Research at King’s College London to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a veteran-specific smartphone app to assess its effectiveness in helping ex-Service personnel to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has published an evaluation report on the Charnwood, Melton and Rushcliffe (CMR) Borough Councils Partnership, which examines the development and delivery of an Armed Forces Covenant training programme for local authority staff across Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

The implementation of a pilot mental fitness initiative, named HeadFIT, is to be evaluated over 12-months by King’s College London thanks to a grant of £92,757 awarded by the Forces in Mind Trust.

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) has issued a request for expressions of interest (REOI) to conduct research to understand the psychosocial determinants of psychological health and wellbeing for veterans’ families in the UK.