Free Mental Health Support For Forces Families; From Counselling and Residential Breaks, to Couples Therapy and Apps.

At the moment, it feels like everywhere I turn, everyone I speak to is feeling the effects of the lack of light and warmth in the UK. Burnouts and breakdowns abound in January it seems, like toddlers over-stimulated after a big birthday party, we collectively crash after all the hype of Christmas and New Year is over, struggling to transition from holiday mode back into the regular routine of daily work and life.

We experience all this pressure for the holidays to be perfect, whether that’s perfect for our friends and family or just perfect for US, to get all the rest and replenishment we need, squeezed into a week or two. Then it’s New Year, and people are releasing brand new Goal Setting workbooks, announcing all the ways in which they will be better this year, as if they weren’t enough the year before; and it’s all just a bit much.

If you live in the UK, it’s also dark, and cold, and wet. There’s a period of 6 weeks or so where it doesn’t seem to quite get light at all, and even in the middle of the day, everything feels a bit damp, and that ‘duvet chuck’ energy we all aspire to is nowhere to be found.

If you’re reading this thinking ‘what’s her deal?’ then humour me, I know I’m not alone, and if you have some magic sauce to make the world feel brighter, quit keeping it all to yourself and send some over here!

So January can be hard. The world is telling us to speed up and lose weight, and our bodies are telling us to slow down and eat more carbs. For a lot of people, this time of year can cause us to feel a drop in our moods and motivation, and for people with existing predispositions to mental health issues, these can be exacerbated too.

Thankfully, there are a lot of places to get support for free if you’re a military family, whether that’s through self-help resources or one-to-one therapy. And you don’t need to go through welfare to get help.

We’ve compiled some of the services on offer for free for members of the armed forces and their families needing a wellbeing boost, whatever time of year it might be.

Headspace

Headspace is a science-backed App that provides self-help advice and tools to help improve emotional and mental wellness, reduce stress and aid in better sleep. Tools include hundreds of guided meditations, sleep sounds and music for bedtime, suggestion for mood-boosting workouts and much more. They offer free membership to all serving members of the UK Armed Forces and their families, through partnerships with The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, Royal Navy, and British Army.

To take advantage of this service, sign up using the below links:

British Army – https://work.headspace.com/britisharmy/member-enroll

Royal Navy/Royal Marines – https://work.headspace.com/royal-navy-wellbeing/member-enroll

Royal Airforce – https://www.rafbf.org/headspace-request-form

The Warrior Programme

The Warrior Programme is a fully funded intensive personal development programme that supports individuals from the military community, such as serving members, veterans, and their families. They offer 3 day residential and 5 day online intensive foundation courses followed by 12 months of structured support through regular refresher sessions and online interaction. During the programme attendees will be introduced to coaching techniques that enable them to build resilience, manage stress and focus on building a confident and positive future. For Armed Forces members this programme is available whether you are planning on staying in the military, or leaving, and it is available to all members of the UK Armed Forces, veterans, and families.

Here’s what they say – “Our programme enables individuals to manage their emotions and to develop the resilience, focus and motivation to succeed in today’s world. The programme has been developed over the last fifteen years to meet the demands and challenges experienced by past and present members of the armed forces and their families.”

To find out more, click here – https://www.warriorprogramme.org.uk/

Relate

Relate offer free Relationship Counselling, Family Counselling, Relationship Solutions Mentalisation-Based Therapy for Parenting Under Pressure, Sex Therapy, and Children and Young People’s Counselling, alongside online relationship and family support. This offer is specific to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force (alongside veterans, reservists and their dependants) through the RNRMC and Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. It is also available to those who are not married but are living together and those in same-sex relationships

Royal Navy and Royal Marines –

https://www.relate.org.uk/what-we-do/free-counselling/royal-navy-and-royal-marines-charity#:~:text=All%20Relate%20counselling%20support%20services,or%20single%2C%20we%20can%20help.

Royal Air Force –

https://www.rafbf.org/get-support/family-relationships/relationship-counselling-mediation#:~:text=We%20can%20provide%20up%20to,our%20confidential%20service%20can%20help.

Males & Females Tales

Males & Females Tales are a registered charity based in Helensburgh that support both members of the Armed Forces, their families and civilians through in-person group peer support sessions hosted by fully trained volunteers. They also have a team of fully trained life coaches and NLP practitioners who can provide 1 on 1 support sessions to those who would like it. They have a “Buddy Buddy” system in place where they assign a volunteer to contact you before attending your first meeting so you have a familiar face.

To find out more, click here – https://www.malestales.co.uk/

Veterans foundation

The Veterans Foundation offers individual support for veterans in need of assistance around housing, employment, finances, living independently, mental wellbeing, physical health and family and the community.

To view more life and wellness resources available for veterans, click here – https://www.veteransfoundation.org.uk/charity-categories/improving-mental-health/

One million lives

One Million Lives is an App on a mission to achieve 1 million mental health check-ins and start conversations to help end the stigma around mental health that has held us back for so long.

Check-ins are free and take 2 minutes for a quick check-in or 5-15 minutes for a more in-depth full check-in. At the end of the questionnaire, there will be feedback based on your results with research-backed recommendations for strategies to improve your mental health and suggestions for areas that could do with improvement and extra attention.

To find out more, click here – https://www.oml.world/

Ripple pond

Ripple pond support the adult family members of physically and psychologically injured British Armed Forces personnel and veterans. If you’re supporting and/or caring for a British serviceperson or veteran, and would like to access support for yourself, they are the people to reach out to. They offer peer support services connecting you with a network of Forces families who can offer support and understanding. They also work collaboratively with other organisations and charities to help signpost you to specific military family support services. They are not part of the military Chain of Command, Welfare Service or MoD.

To find out more, click here – https://theripplepond.org/