The military covenant commits to priority care for all who have been physically and mentally injured in service.  

Whilst physical injuries are easy to recognise and have a need for immediate and lifetime attention, mental injuries such as post traumatic stress are less visible, and very often delayed in symptom manifestation.  

The severity of the symptoms are very often compounded by underlying trauma in earlier life before military service, and by other stressful events more recently but occurring outside of military service.  

This reinforces the need for a more whole-person whole-life approach by the Department of Health to widen the access to the highly effective personal therapy that exists outside the NHS and that does not at present benefit from any of the £mmm being spent on statutory services and the larger charities that are often not fit for purpose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29807947 

A UK Forces' Veteran writes:
"I have just completed 6 weeks of therapy which was kindly provided free of charge by your wonderful charity. After suffering with PTSD for the best part of 15 years or more it was time to get some proper help after years of suffering in silence and not having the confidence to ask. I came across PTSD Resolution by chance after following them via Twitter and reading the work they do before going I knew about the main website.

"When I watched the video on the website of the veteran telling his story I was blown away by how similar if not exact his experiences were. I watched this video again and again over for days as it was difficult to take in someone who felt and suffered the same way I do. From the moment I finished watching it I was determined to fight this condition and contacted the charity the very next day to see what they could do.

"I spoke to lovely lady, whose name I can`t remember, who was very supportive and made me feel at ease while I explained my story and symptoms something I had never ever done before. Within 24 hrs of me speaking to PTSD Resolution I had my first appointment booked with a local psychotherapist that specialised in ex veterans suffering with PTSD the very next week. I met the therapist at the first session and immediately felt safe and able to tell him my feelings and my past experiences.

"I spent 11 years in the British Army in some extremely difficult and testing situations which had left mostly a lot of negative effects on me. Although these events happened in the 90`s in both Balkan conflicts and Northern Ireland what I saw and witnessed have stayed with me ever since. My marriage had failed due to my actions, drinking had become a problem, not because I was drinking all the time but drinking till I could not remember anything which for me was relief.

"I became very withdrawn from day to day life and started to avoid certain situations. The symptoms got progressively worse, lack of sleep, loud noises, panic attacks, unable to concentrate, hyper vigilance, reliving past experiences, uncontrollable crying and emotions with the feeling or terror and worthlessness till in my case it just gets worse and worse feeling there is no way out. My life was imploding before my very eyes and felt I could not do anything about it until one day when I feared for my own safety! Not a good situation to be in when you have children that have had no idea what I was going though and would of left them devastated. This was now very real. If I hadn’t stopped there and then I would not be here today writing this testimonial!

"Getting back to the treatment it is very intense, tiring and emotional with lots of tears and some sessions feeling completely drained. You relive the past horrors but learn new skills the therapist teaches you to combat your negative thoughts and experiences. Now these work, or they did for me, however sometimes they will not, and they didn’t at times, you have to prepare yourself to accept this and fight through it. I could feel myself changing week by week as sessions went by and feeling more positive something that I had not felt for a very long time.

"Each session you are scored on the past 7 days experiences something you have to complete yourself and at the end of the treatment you are shown the progress you have made via the scores that you submitted. When I saw my scores at the end of the 6 sessions I was gob smacked these were my scores not somebody else`s they weren’t made up nor had they been tampered with these were mine and a true record of progress.

"This treatment has saved my life and shown there is a future for me. I may need to go back in the future that I am very aware of but it`s my challenge now and I am determined to get better. I can`t express enough my gratitude to the wonderful people of PTSD resolution and those that raise vital funds for this charity. I feel very emotional writing this. I will be forever in debt and my aim now is to raise my funds for PTSD Resolution so that I can help the next veteran who comes forward with PTSD and desperately needs help. Please don’t suffer in silence there is help out there it takes confidence to ask but YOU can do it!

"If you want use this for the website and or Facebook/Twitter page then you have my approval I am also willing to take part in any surveys or anything else that could help others.

"Many thanks again I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

A British Forces Veteran

The effectiveness of PTSD treatment provided by the Defense Department and VA is unknown

In a report mandated by Congress the US National Academy of Sciences has said  “The U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs should track the outcomes of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) provided to service members and veterans and develop a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to do so,…” and that “Without tracking outcomes, neither DOD nor VA knows whether it is providing effective or adequate PTSD care, for which they spent $294 million and more than $3 billion, respectively, in 2012..”  

The Chair of the committee at the Academy is Sandro Galea, who is professor and chair of the department of epidemiology, at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City.  

He says that “given that the DOD and VA are responsible for serving millions of service members, families, and veterans, it is surprising that no PTSD outcome measures are used consistently to know if these treatments are working or not.  They could be highly effective, but we won’t know unless outcomes are tracked and evaluated.”

“The report recommends that DOD and VA develop, coordinate, and implement a measurement-based PTSD management system that documents patients’ progress over the course of treatment, regardless of where they receive treatment, and does long-term follow-up using standardized and validated instruments."

http://www.psypost.org/2014/06/the-effectiveness-of-ptsd-treatment-provided-by-the-defense-department-and-va-is-unknown-25934?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The same strange state of affairs also applies in the UK, where large sums of public money are spent with no clear way of knowledge of which approaches or providers produce useful change.

UK charity PTSDResolution has consistently made full, anonymised, data available to any bona-fide researcher on request, as it believes that this vital information should be made available by any therapeutic service to any interested parties, including Veterans, donors, large service charities and the various government institutions that have an interest in the welfare of our Veterans.

PTSD Resolution keeps meticulous records of every client, using standard DoH outcome measures, and can show precisely what has happened to every client in the course of therapy.

Over the last 120 cases for which we have CORE-10 as well as IES-E data over 75% of our cases have experienced ‘reliable improvement’ in clinical terms. We suggest that, as recommended by the report for Congress in the US concludes, it would be in the interests of all concerned to pool data and investigate ways of getting better value for money from the UK spend on treatment for Veterans with mental health problems.

Given appropriate funding PTSD Resolution would wish to conduct follow up research to determine how well veterans cope at a significant period after the last treatment. Organisations wishing to support this work are invited to contact us via the web site. See Key Facts

www.ptsdresolution.org 

New major funder for PTSD Resolution: UK Joint Security Associations (JSA). Inaugural annual fundraising event will be held in London on Tuesday 30th September. It is planned the event will raise in excess of £40,000.

PTSD Resolution is a UK charity for Forces veterans that pays no salaries and has no fixed assets because all funds are used to relieve military PTSD.

The JSA comprises the following - huge thanks to these top professional organisations:-

1. The www.adsgroup.org.uk @ADSgroupUK is helping us to resolve military trauma. 

ADS is a top trade organisation advancing the UK Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space industries - backing PTSD Resolution to end military trauma suffered by forces' veterans

2. ASIS www.asisonline.org is a major supporter of PTSD Resolution @ASIS_Intl .

ASIS is a leading organisation for security professionals, with over 38,000 members worldwide. It's supporting PTSD Resolution and our unique 8 out of 10 success rate in resolving military trauma

3. City of London Crime Prevention Association @CitySecuritymag supporting PTSD Resolution with our uniquely network of 200 therapists for treatment for UK veterans' trauma www.cityoflondoncpa.org.uk London's own professional security body

4. Next www.ipsa.org.uk IPSA supports PTSD Resolution's work in treating veteran's trauma in an average of just 5 sessions. International Professional Security Association & Security Institute is a membership body for individuals and companies working in security and associated roles

5. Big thanks finally to Security Institute @SyInstitute & support for PTSD Resolution.

The www.security-institute.org - member organisation for security professionals

- for 15 years it has worked to promote the highest possible standards of integrity and professional competence in the business of security

Thanks to all!

Patrick Rea, Campaign Director & Trustee

Key Facts: www.ptsdresolution.org/key_facts.htm 

PTSD Resolution (charity number 1133188)

Tags Military trauma, PTSD treatment, UK Forces Veterans,

Ex-Army and ex-Prison Officer: Glenn's story

To: PTSD Resolution

Hi, my name is Glenn Owen

I am ex-Army and an ex Prison Officer and because of the type of Treatment that I have been fortunate to have had with PTSD Resolution, I no longer feel the victim I once did, nor need the medication I was once on, I no longer have the nightmares I had and I now feel well and able to cope with life once again.

I joined the Army in 1977 aged 18.

During my service I saw active service in N.Ireland once for 6 months and towards the end of my service I had a 2 yr Deployment in the Province, which was also a stressful and eventful time.

I left the Army in 1986 and joined The Prison Service. Whilst I was working at HMP Longlartin I was involved in an incident where a Prisoner had been violently attacked and I attempted to resuscitate and treat him, however his injuries were so severe that he died whilst attempts were being made to keep him alive.

This incident was the catalyst to the start and continuance of my onslaught of PTSD. It was the last straw in a series of events over the years which I likened to the Tilt on a pinball machine, you can flip and knock the machine but if you knock it to hard then it tilts and this is what happened to me.

Firstly I turned to drink to blot out my nightmares and the bad feelings that I was having, I became aggressive to my close family and so to feel better I drank more until I had a complete breakdown in my Doctors Surgery.

I was put on anti-depressants and referred to be accessed by Mental Health services. I was eventually diagnosed with ‘PTSD and I was given most forms of recognised NHS treatment, I had EMDR, Group Therapy and individual therapy, between May 2000 up to July 07. I was put on Seroxset by my treating Psychiatrist But this didn’t seem to work on me in fact it induced me to want to end it all and I was switched on to Venlafaxine, yet more pills,

I was eventually passed on to my local Counselling Services and it was here the I started to see a man named John. John was ex-Army/Navy and it was like someone had turned the light on. 

From this John put me in touch with Jayne Timings (PTSD Resolution) and it was now that I started to get the treatment that I was so in need of.

I had my first session with Jayne on the 4th July 07 and she conducted her assessment of me using then IOES this produced an initial score of 84 out of 92, Which I might add was up on the one I was given at the start of the NHS Treatment so my condition had become worse.
I was afraid at first to open up to her but John had told me that I would be able to trust her so I did and have never looked back. I needed several rewinds as I had accumulated quite a few problems over the years.

Jayne was very patient with me and I do feel that had I not been able to have the treatment with her then I would not be here with you all today. My life is getting back on track and I now relish every day. I am without doubt that all this is down to this type of treatment and would urge other suffers to that it and would beg the powers that be to make it available as a right.

Ends…

As told to Patrick Rea - a writer and Campaign Director for PTSD Resolution  

How much should you give? Remember The 100 Hour Rule

Give — But *Not* Until It Hurts. 

Giving makes us happier than receiving. In fact, it can create a feedback loop of happiness in your life.

Helping others reach their goals brings joy. Doing nice things for others today can literally make you happier for the rest of the week.

However, being a martyr stresses you out and is bad for your health.

Via Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success:

Research shows that on the job, people who engage in selfless giving end up feeling overloaded and stressed, as well as experiencing conflict between work and family.This is even true in marriages: in one study of married couples, people who failed to maintain an equilibrium between their own needs and their partner’s needs became more depressed over the next six months.

What to do? Do all your giving one day a week.

Via Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success:

The chunkers achieved gains in happiness; the sprinklers didn’t. Happiness increased when people performed all five giving acts in a single day, rather than doing one a day. Lyubomirsky and colleagues speculate that “spreading them over the course of a week might have diminished salience and power or made them less distinguishable from participants habitual kind of behavior.”

How much should you give? Remember The 100 Hour Rule. One hundred hours a year — in other words, 2 hours per week.

Via Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success:

One hundred seems to be a magical number when it comes to giving. In a study of more than two thousand Australian adults in their mid-sixties, those who volunteered between one hundred and eight hundred hours per year were happier and more satisfied with their lives than those who volunteered fewer than one hundred or more than eight hundred hours annually. In another study, American adults who volunteered at least one hundred hours in 1998 were more likely to be alive in 2000. There were no benefits of volunteering more than one hundred hours. This is the 100-hour rule of volunteering. It appears to be the range where giving is maximally energizing and minimally draining.

A hundred hours a year breaks down to just two hours a week.Research shows that if people start volunteering two hours a week, their happiness, satisfaction and self-esteem go up a year later.

(More on the power of giving here.)

Want to be a giver and be happier? Share this post with a friend and spread some happiness.

From: Barking up the Wrong Tree

The 100 Hour Rule: you can support charity PTSD Resolution's programme for Forces' Veterans suffering from military PTSD - and their families. 
We welcome supporters of all kinds.

See our news on Facebook or contact details 

PTSD Resolution annual conference - you should have been there...

PTSD Resolution held its annual conference on Saturday 12th October 2013, and on the same day it was featured a number of times on BBC TV: see some clips on the BBC and also here

To see more TV clips and catch up with the latest news and media exposure for Resolution see our Facebook page.

Tony Gauvain, Chairman of PTSD Resolution, opened the conference and highlighted the fact that 419 referrals had received treatment to date, and we are currently taking on two new referrals a week. The direction for the coming year is to gain membership of COBSEO; to be accredited by PSA through the Human Givens Institute; and to compete for tenders with CCGs.

Bill Andrews presented the latest evidence of HG and PTSD Resolution’s effectiveness. Bill's slide presentation can be seen here or Bill will talk you through it here and here This presentation is extraordinarily useful to anyone who wants to understand how Resolution works and what sort of results are being achieved for our veterans.

Extracts from Chris Terrill’s TV series Battle Scarred preceded a discussion to explore the nature of Veterans’ trauma and whether there is a case for the Justice system to take more account of the effects when determining sentence. A better balance needs to be found between maintaining the deterrent of prison and providing opportunity for treatment and reduced sentencing.

An extract from an interview with Tom and Sue at his 'Shaveathon' led into a discussion about the impact on families living with traumatised Veterans. Wendy Houghton from Families of the Brave and Linda Hoggan who has created a parenting programme ‘Just What We Need’ led the discussion. A major conclusion was that service families will benefit from better and more trauma awareness training to learn how to recognise, understand, and manage the impact of trauma.

Martin Smith gave a presentation on Mindfulness and how it can take over from where the heavy-duty business of trauma therapy comes to an end.

Dr. Robin Bennet, a clinical psychologist with a special interest in trauma, particularly in childhood, gave a fascinating insight into the effects of trauma on the brain before and after treatment.

Carly Raby then presented a complex case study which illustrated many of the complications Robin had been describing and opened up for the audience how Resolution can take on the hardest of cases, thanks to the expertise of its therapists.

Piers Bishop concluded with an exhortation to generate funds, especially on 5 December via the Big Give

Emma and her Husky up a mountain or 3 I'm walking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks for PTSD Resolution because PTSD needs more recognition

http://www.justgiving.com/Huskyupamountainor3 

Emma and her Husky up a mountain or 3

I'm walking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks for PTSD Resolution because PTSD needs more recognition

3 and a Husky

We've joined together to raise money for charity. You'll see our team fundraising target on the right. Your donation can really help us smash this goal  https://www.justgiving.com/teams/3andahusky

Jim & Jake raising cash

Jim & Jake raising cash for PTSD RESOLUTION

I'm doing the 3 peaks with my son jake for PTSD Resolution because they require help http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Dagless

The ‘Shadow’ Population of Forces’ Veterans who suffer PTSD without Help

Many UK armed forces’ veterans are suffering from the effects of military trauma but are going without any official diagnosis or help, according to a new survey.

Unknown and untreated, this ‘shadow’ population receives no appropriate medical or counselling support, says charity PTSD Resolution - www.ptsdgive.co.uk. These veterans may number as many as are diagnosed with PTSD through the NHS and healthcare organisations for former servicemen and women.

The latest findings are from a new survey by charity PTSD Resolution, and are a major concern for security industry and other employers.

The charity has a national network of 200 counsellors to help forces’ veterans suffering from military trauma. Resolution successfully treats eight out ten veterans who complete its programme of counselling, it says, but has been turned down for support by Government, NHS and the established forces’ charities and is running out of funds from voluntary donations, says Piers Bishop, director of counselling.

Key findings of the survey are:-

1.     Half of respondents suffering from the symptoms of military trauma – which include nightmares, flashbacks and episodes of anger or terror – have no diagnosis of PTSD, whilst the other half do.

2.     The distribution of symptoms is the same in the diagnosed and undiagnosed groups: they appear to be suffering to the same degree. So in the case of those with a diagnosis, treatment has either not been provided or has not worked effectively

3.     The undiagnosed group have suffered symptoms for an average of 15 years. Many have had meetings with medical practitioners but still never received a diagnosis or an offer of treatment. They are more likely to drink above guideline levels, and to have a diagnosis of alcohol dependency

4.     The PTSD diagnosed group are highly likely to have other diagnoses, generally for depression and other anxiety disorders

5.     All those with either a diagnosis or with probable PTSD are significantly more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those veterans with a sub-clinical level of post-traumatic stress.

Piers Bishop assesses the results of the survey:

“ The diagnosed group are persistent enough, or have social support, or have sufficiently severe symptoms to get a diagnosis of PTSD. The second group may not wish to acknowledge they have a problem perhaps, or do not have social support to go through the pathways to diagnosis: some we have found do not leave their room, or just find it easier or less frightening or humiliating to go to the pub, and attempt to self-manage their symptoms with alcohol.”

There is a population of veterans that are desperate for help with the effects of trauma, concludes Bishop: disturbingly, even the help that is available is often inadequate

“ Unlike with the PTSD support generally available to veterans, PTSD Resolution can offer help that is fast, with an average of just five counselling sessions required on an outpatient basis. No referrals are needed. We’re a very lean organisation: there are no salaried staff or premises. But our funds are running out and the future is very uncertain for the charity - and the veterans we have yet to help.”

The PTSD Resolution survey received completed replies from 472 respondents. The survey can be found at www.ptsdresolution.org/survey.html. It included an IES-E, a self-rating scale for post-traumatic stress.

For further information: PTSD Resolution www.ptsdgive.co.uk. Tel 0845 021 7873. e-mail sb@ptsdresolution.org

The BBC Panorama Programme (BBC One, 15 July) highlights the terrible consequences of  military trauma for our forces’ veterans and the deficiencies of current support in the UK.

PTSD Resolution is the only charity – the only organisation nationally - in the UK to provide counselling to veterans and reservists and then publish the clinical results.  It is the only care provider with a proven record of success, at 78 per cent, (defined as where, for those who complete the programme, both the counsellor and counselled state that no further treatment is required).

Despite this record of success, Government and the NHS refuse to acknowledge or support PTSD Resolution, and the charity has to rely on donations from the public. Moreover, the charity has been refused membership to UK services’ charity organisation COBSEO, and therefore access to mainstream charitable funding without any satisfactory explanation.

PTSD Resolution offers exceptional value for money too. The cost per treatment is £400 – this compares with the cost by the largest charity in the sector which is as high as £25,000 per treatment (from analysis of the records registered with the Charity Commissioners, as no results’ data are published).

PTSD Resolution meets all the requirements of the Veterans Pathway, NICE guidelines and other national clinical and care standards - and meets many unmet veterans’ needs:-

1.    The PTSD Resolution national outreach programme has over 200 counsellors.  It is private, confidential, local, and one-to-one. No referral is needed, so reducing any sense of stigma. Counselling is brief and effective – an average of five out-patient sessions are required.

2.    PTSD Resolution treats veterans who cannot be seen by other care providers because, for example, they have alcohol or drug problems, are on the sex-offenders' register, or are in prison.  At Resolution there is no such bar on providing help.

3.    The ex-military prison population with post-traumatic symptoms is in particular need of help. This is because prison medical services do not generally employ specialist psychological trauma therapists on their staff. Resolution can go into prisons to help veterans – but there is no national recognition of Resolution by the prison authorities or Home Office, which restricts availability.

4.    The counselling methodology of Resolution is a form of Trauma-Focussed CBT. It is therefore entirely compatible with the NICE guideline on PTSD treatment. It therefore could be, but is not made available through GP Primary Care, hospital referral or other NHS networks. 

The methodology and organisation of Resolution are fully open to independent inspection and further validation. We welcome the opportunity to work with any Government, COBSE or NHS-related organisation.

Most of all Resolution requires fair access to funding, including the many millions of pounds that are channelled through COBSEO and the NHS to other service charities and care providers, but without any supporting evidence by them that their treatment works; or the percentage of veterans that are effectively treated; or any demonstration of value for money..

From:-

Colonel Anthony de Gauvain (Retired)

Chairman, PTSD Resolution, charity (No. 1133188)

www.ptsdresolution.org

Woolwich

The terrible event at Woolwich reminds us starkly of the mental as well as physical trauma to which our forces' personnel are exposed. For those who are injured, and those who serve along side them and their families, the trauma can last sometimes a lifetime.

Our work at PTSD Resolution is to counsel those veterans who are affected by military trauma. The alternative for them is often extreme daily anguish, nightmares, even substance abuse and family breakdown. And worse.

Nearly 8 out of 10 times - in 78 per cent of cases - we achieve an  effective resolution - so that the counsellor and counselled believe that no further help is required, after an average of five one sessions. They can go on to lead normal work and family lives, like you and me.

To achieve this the charity needs money, frankly. We get no Government, NHS of H4H funding.
We counsel each veteran at a cost per treatment of £373.  The main charity in the military mental health area treats veterans at an average cost per treatment of £2,836. But we are the only charity that reports on its results.

All our money is used to pay and manage our counsellors network. We have no salaried staff or assets, not so much as a stapler. All Trustees are volunteers.
Help us if you can , or just tell people about what we do.

Thank you - http://www.ptsdresolution.org/

16 May, MPs are holding a special debate on mental health

* We've just heard that this Thursday, 16 May, MPs are holding a special debate on mental health in the House of Commons, and this is your chance to tell the Government what matters to you right now.

Many MPs have no understanding of mental health problems. We need you to email your MP and share your experience or point them to our work so they can speak about mental health on your behalf at the debate - visit http://is.gd/n2OmXu

You could tell your MP about your own experience, or if you prefer you could simply point your MP to PTSD Resolution.

This is our message:

" The Government should make wider access available to Veterans, Reservists and their families with mental health or well being problems by supporting service charities in addition to Combat Stress - such as PTSD Resolution, which can demonstrate a track record of providing immediate, local, brief, private, treatment at a fraction of the cost and at 80% effectiveness."

You can watch the debate live on the BBC Parliament Channel or on the Parliament website from about 11.30am on Thursday.

Please Share or Like this message to pass it on to supporters of battle to beat military PTSD

Thanks!

Why we help veterans and TA in prison and with addiction problems.

The PTSD Resolution outreach programme - with 200 counsellors - includes visiting and helping TA and veterans in prison, as well as those with alcohol and related addiction problems. This probably makes us unique in the military charity sector, as the only organisation prepared to help in these situations.

Our policy is that the very sad circumstances in which a traumatised veteran may find him or herself is probably symptomatic and related to the effects of the original trauma anyway. Therefore it is only humane to include these people, all veterans in the counselling programme.

The help we provide is limited by the funds that we have available to meet the costs of providing counsellors - we have no funds from Government, MoD, NHS or other organisations, and rely on donations from the public and one or two private Trusts that help.

We have no salaried staff or fixed assets - funds are used to provide counselling and a small informational campaign.

Taking the Trauma out of a Crisis: Trauma Training for Employers

Even staff who are professionally trained to respond to and deal with CBRNE events have their own personal stress thresholds. Beyond a certain level of exposure to disturbing experiences, almost everyone is vulnerable to trauma, according to the organisers of TATE, Trauma Awareness Training for Employers. The next half day training event for managers from all sectors is scheduled for Autumn 2013. www.ptsdresolution.org/company_training.htm

PTSD Resolution is the charity that runs the training and is successfully dealing with military trauma amongst many UK forces veterans and reservists. The counselling programme has had unparalleled results in the UK, according to PTSD Resolution, with nearly eight out of ten armed forces’ veterans treated successfully. This was achieved in an average of five sessions: 157 ex-service personnel have completed the programme, and 78 per cent of these had symptoms reduced to below the ‘clinical level'.

“ We are trying to raise funding for additional counselling to help the other 22 per cent who do not respond and others who fail to complete the programme. The attendance fees for TATE boosts our funds, as we rely on donations, as well as increasing awareness of the issues for employers,” says Piers Bishop, director of counseling at PTSD Resolution.

Few employers can recognise the symptoms of trauma, according to Bishop, far less assist employees and find out if they need help and then arrange appropriate treatment.

This is why PTSD Resolution introduced TATE. The registered UK charity (No. 1133188) provides trauma treatment to military veterans as its core aim. However, such has been the demand for help from employers of former soldiers that the charity set up half-day seminars to help company owners, line managers, human relations specialists and other CBRNE staff to recognise and deal with the problem of trauma, however caused.

Tips on Trauma

Piers Bishop says that if as a line manager you have staff who have been exposed to violent scenes, or come across them in their current employment, you and they need to be prepared through proper training – he makes these further points:-

1. If you experience the effects of trauma, you are not going mad and this is not a sign of weakness. It is a normal reaction to events and can happen to anyone, even robust and apparently stable people. Everyone has a threshold beyond which they can be traumatised:

2. It’s ok to talk about the event and feelings of trauma, but it won’t necessarily help. Treatment is what you need. The sooner you get on with it, the sooner you’ll be able to get back to normal life. If you broke your leg, you’d get it fixed professionally – it is not so different with mental health.

3. Your doctor probably won’t be a trauma specialist. In fact you may know more about post-traumatic symptoms than him or her because of the nature of your work and the people with whom you come into contact.

4. The latest medical thinking is opposed to medication for post-traumatic symptoms, but many doctors still offer antidepressants to new trauma cases. So you should insist on seeing someone qualified in this subject. There is a strong chance that with appropriate treatment you will experience a good recovery.

PTSD Resolution has a network of 200 counsellors in the UK, and bookings can be made centrally.

For further information on TATE courses, including the next open event and private company courses, visit www.ptsdresolution.org/company_training.htm

Ends…

Author: Patrick Rea is Campaign Director for PTSD Resolution

US News: More active-duty soldiers killed themselves than died in combat. After a decade of deployments to war zones, the Pentagon is bracing for things to get much worse http://is.gd/I5XpS0 PTSD Resolution counsels UK veterans to prevent these tragedies in the UK. 

PTSD Resolution Video: Daily Telegraph

A must-see: Daily Telegraph: the impact of military trauma & how PTSD counselling resolves it http://is.gd/kcbvv9 - See how 8 out of 10 UK forces' veterans are successfully counselled who complete the PTSD Resolution programme. The only veteran's mental health charity to provide stats on results. It receives no Government, NHS or other public funding. Support a veteran: adopt PTSD Resolution as your nominated corporate charity web ptsdresolution.orgless

BBC 3 “Life after Helmand” (Wednesday 9pm): Comment by PTSD Resolution

PTSD Resolution (reg. charity No. 1133188), a charity formed specifically to provide counselling for forces’ veterans suffering from military PTSD, has warned that the current level of provision of care is failing many former servicemen and women.

As highlighted in BBC 3 “Life after Helmand”, symptoms of military trauma include flashbacks, nightmares and depression. Without appropriate help the result can be family breakdown, homelessness, criminality and even suicide.

Piers Bishop, director of counselling at PTSD Resolution, comments:

“ Current provision is still inadequate, by definition, because forces’ veterans are still suffering and in some cases sadly dying. The UK has to do more to reach people whose lives have been turned upside down by traumatic experiences in the services, and that means doing more at a local level, and that there's an important role for organisations that are not connected to central government.

“ Our experience at Resolution is that some traumatised soldiers are very wary of any dealings with the authorities, partly because they blame them for the trauma in the first place but also because if 'they' know about the extent of the trauma it might jeopardise future employment in the forces.  So organisations like Resolution, which work beneath the radar and resolve trauma locally, with an absolute minimum of cost, fuss, wait or bureaucracy, may well turn out to be very important in helping individuals returning from Afghanistan. Cost is just £500 for a complete programme on average.”

PTSD Resolution’s network of 200 counsellors operates nationwide to provide support to resolve military trauma, with a success rate of 8 out of 10 cases for veterans who complete the programme (Source: PTSD report 2012).

According to PTSD Resolution chairman Colonel Tony Gauvain (retired): “PTSD Resolution offers fast help, with an average of just five counselling sessions required on an outpatient basis. No referrals are needed. PTSD Resolution is a very lean organisation: there are no salaried staff or premises: funds are used for therapy and to provide support and information on the help available”.

For further information: PTSD Resolution www.ptsdgive.co.uk. Tel 0845 021 7873. e-mail sb@ptsdresolution.org

The Falklands: case study

We bring you case studies of treatment outcomes from PTSD Resolution counselling: This client presented with long-standing trauma dating back to the time of the Falklands war. At initial assessment expressed feelings of anxiety, low mood (said rarely smiles), failure to cope in general and specifically at work (was currently signed off sick with acute stress for 2 weeks), constantly thinking about the past and sleeping poorly, all of which were confirmed by psychometric assessment.

Treatment proposed and completed included: teaching deep relaxation and anxiety management; desensitisation to the traumatic events, using deep relaxation with focused attention and guided imagery, (rewind); rehearsal of future plans.

Following therapy psychometric reassessment indicated that the effect of the trauma was substantially reduced and now at a normal acceptable level. In keeping with this low anxiety, good mood, and well-being overall were all indicated, and the client reported that:

“I feel so different now, calmer, nowhere near as anxious, relaxed; everything is massively improved. The event will never go away but it doesn’t get me upset anymore, even when talking about it. I think I’m a different person now – I was panicked and not knowing what was happening to me. But not now, I’ve even been giving tips to colleagues at work on how to deal with sleep problems!”

Note: PTSD Resolution is a charity (No. 1133188) that offers counselling, with an 78% success rate, to UK armed forces’ veterans, TA, reservists and dependants, to relieve mental health problems resulting from military service, to ease reintegration into a normal work & family life.