Admiral Nurses | Dementia Homes | Royal British Legion

Admiral Nurses work in partnership with Dementia UK to provide a specialist service helping the Armed Forces community and their families living with dementia.

They know that when you’re caring for someone with dementia it can be hard to find the time to look after yourself. The Admiral Nurses are there to support you, and those you’re caring for, to get the help you need.

Click here to go to the Citizen’s Advice website with advice on benefits and concessions for Armed Forces, Veterans and their families.

Contact the charity here.

Fighting With Pride: The LGBT+ Military Charity

Originally, an NHS England funded initiative, OpCOMMUNITY is an easily accessible point of contact with a dedicated email and phone number to support the Armed Forces community as a whole.

This includes Serving and Ex-Service Personnel, immediate family members and carers of those from within His Majesty’s Armed Forces.

They will be able to assist directly with your query and can provide advice, guidance and support on a range of issues.

This service is available from 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday. All contacts will be responded to within 48 working hours.

You can contact them either by phone on 01273 403693, by email or by completing the form on the website: OpCOMMUNITY – Armed Forces Network

Op COURAGE is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help serving personnel due to leave the military, reservists, armed forces veterans and their families.

How Op COURAGE can help

Op COURAGE can help you and your family with a range of support and treatment, including:

• helping you transition from military to civilian life by providing mental health care with Defence Medical Services (DMS)
• helping you recognise and treat early signs of mental health problems, as well as more advanced mental health conditions and psychological trauma
• providing support and treatment for substance misuse and addictions
• helping you to access other NHS mental health services if you need them, such as finding an NHS talking therapies service and eating disorder services
• liaising with charities and local organisations to support your wider health and wellbeing needs, such as help with housing, relationships, finances and employment
• supporting armed forces families affected by mental health problems, including helping them to access local services

Who will I speak to?

Op COURAGE is an NHS service supported by trained professionals who are from, or have experience of working with, the Armed Forces community.

This service can help if you’re finding life difficult after leaving the military. Working together with Armed Forces charities, Op COURAGE will help you get the right type of specialist care, support and treatment for your specific needs.

Who Op COURAGE can help

To receive help and support from Op COURAGE, you must:

• be a resident in England and have served in the UK armed forces for a full day
• be registered with a GP surgery in England, or be willing and eligible to register with a GP
• provide your military service number

It does not matter how long ago you left the armed forces or how long you served for. You can contact Op COURAGE even if you left many years ago.

You can also contact Op COURAGE if you’re still serving but have a discharge date.

Contacting Op COURAGE

You can contact the service in many ways, including:

• directly getting in touch yourself, or through a family member or friend
• asking a GP or other healthcare representative to refer you
• asking a charity to refer you

The service will arrange for you to have an assessment, to make sure you get the right care and support.

It’s important to contact the Op COURAGE service for your local area. This allows them to give you the best support they can provide.

Contact

Call 0300 373 3332 or email OpCourageNORTH@cntw.nhs.uk

You can read more about the launch of Op Fortitude here.

Veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and the organisations working with them are encouraged to contact the Op FORTITUDE hotline  on 0800 952 0774 or through a secure web portal at riv.org.uk/opfortitude.

Further information can be found here

Op NOVA | Forces Employment Charity

Op NOVA provides support for veterans who are in contact with the justice system, enabling them to access the services they need.

The shift into non-military life can bring challenges that can lead to veterans feeling detached and in between military and civilian worlds. The reality for many is that this can potentially lead to housing problems, debt, health issues, PTSD, or drug and alcohol misuse. Which can in turn lead to some veterans being at risk of offending.

Op NOVA’s specialist team is drawn from those who have served in the Armed Forces, as well as partners, children and parents of those who serve or have served. Other members of the team have worked in the police, probation, prisons or charity sector. Our team is trained in Information Advice and Guidance, Level 4, and Mental Health First Aid.

We are able to identify and engage with veterans because we understand their unique circumstances.

Op NOVA may be contacted on:

Freephone 0800 917 7299

or by email at opnova@forcesemployment.org.uk

Op RESTORE is an NHS service that ensures those who have served in the UK Armed Forces access the right NHS treatment for significant, continuing physical injuries and illnesses caused by their time in the Armed Forces.

Working together with military and civilian medical professionals, along with charities, we understand military life and the physical issues that can result from this.

GP’s to refer to Op RESTORE  and a plan is created using clinical information from your medical records.

A referral form available by emailing: imperial.oprestore@nhs.net

Click here to go to the Op PROSPER website, empowering veterans and their families into employment.

Working in partnership with Fighting With Pride, Age UK is delivering the Operation Sterling programme to help older LGBT+ veterans, service personnel and their families.

The Operation Sterling programme provides telephone-based support, advice and casework to older LGBT+ veterans through Age UK’s Advice Line. The existing expertise of Age UK’s Advice Line advisors and the knowledge that Fighting With Pride has about how best to support the well-being of LGBT+ veterans means that Operation Sterling can support older LGBT+ veterans in many different ways.

There’s a focus on helping older LGBT+ veterans access financial support – from working out what support they might be eligible for to help them get started on the claims process. But Age UK’s advisors can also provide further support, like advising older LGBT+ veterans on housing options and social care.

If you are an LGBT+ Veteran and would like to access the specialised support offered through Age UK-Op Sterling don’t hesitate to get in touch with FWP through the Op Sterling contact form and one of their support team will make contact with you and start the referral process for you.

Age UK-Veteran Support (fightingwithpride.org.uk)

Find healthcare and welfare support dedicated to veterans, service leavers, non-mobilised reservists, and their families and carers.

All veterans, service leavers, non-mobilised reservists and their family members and carers can access a range of specialist healthcare and support created to provide treatment and care for many different problems.

Click for a list of services offering support.

New government-funded hotline to end veteran homelessness now live across the UK – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Samaritans works with the Ministry of Defence and other charities to support serving personnel in the Armed Forces, veterans, and their families.

You can find out more here on the Samaritans website.

sistersinservice.co.uk

Sisters In Service is a support network for female veterans working in healthcare in the UK.

The Veterans’ Gateway service is the first point of contact for all Tri-Service veterans, and their families. Its expert content covers welfare areas: housing, employment, finances, living independently, mental wellbeing, families and communities, and physical health.

The Veterans’ Gateway helpline can provide information and referral support by telephone.

Phone: 08‍08 80‍2 12‍12
Monday to Sunday, 8am to 8pm

To search and filter support organisations by topic and location, visit the GOV.UK directory for veteran support Veterans Gateway

Click here to go to the Suicide Bereavement website.

Find support for veterans and families on the Gov.uk website here.