Veterans' Services Update

Unforgotten Forces Autumn Gathering: Save the Date

The Unforgotten Forces 2024 Autumn Gathering will be held on Tuesday 12 November 2024 at The Barracks Conference Centre, Forthside Way, Stirling FK8 1QZ.

Programme details and booking information will be circulated soon.

Regional collaboration forums for supporters of older veterans

Unforgotten Forces is inviting paid staff and volunteers who support older veterans in Scotland to take part in its regional forums.  Forum events take place every 3 months for the West, East, North and North-east of Scotland, with options to join online or in person. Involvement with an Unforgotten Forces partner charity is not required. See the Events calendar below for dates of forthcoming Regional Forum meetings.

Contact veteransproject@agescotland.org.uk to sign up to join a Regional Forum.  Find out more

Closure of ASAP

The Royal British Legion (RBL) has announced that it is no longer able to provide financial support to maintain the Armed Services Advice Project (ASAP) and, as a result of the cessation of that funding, ASAP will close at the end of September 2024. We at Unforgotten Forces have written to the ASAP Regional Support Officers expressing our sincere thanks for all the dedicated and high-quality support they have provided to the veterans’ community in Scotland over the past 14 years.

Keith Brown, MSP and a former Scottish Veterans Minister has achieved cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament for a motion condemning the closure of ASAP and calling upon RBL to reconsider its decision. Further information here: S6M-14208 | Scottish Parliament Website

Scottish Veterans Commissioner - 2024 Progress Report

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner, Susie Hamilton, published her independent assessment of progress towards delivery of recommendations made to Scottish Ministers. The assessment process, established in 2019, provides independent scrutiny of the work of the Scottish Government and helps drive improvement, with the aim of making things better for Scotland’s veterans and their families.

This year the Commissioner has acknowledged some successes. However, she has also identified areas where she feels the pace of delivery has slowed or stalled and where she would encourage further progress by the Scottish Government.

For full details of the Progress Report see Progress | Scottish Veterans Commissioner  

King’s Centre for Military Medical Research

20-year study finds enduring impact of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan on PTSD rates of UK Armed Forces

Researchers from the Military Health Research centre at King’s College London, working with the Office of Veterans Affairs, have published a fourth report from their study looking into the experiences of personnel who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

The report’s authors state: "Our findings suggest that a substantial minority of personnel who served during the Iraq and Afghanistan era of conflicts experience mental health problems. Those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan should not be a forgotten generation and research, policies, and support services should continue to focus on addressing the long-term impact of military service. Our report suggests key recommendations focused on continued funding for serving and ex-serving mental health services and support for prevention and treatment of alcohol misuse”.

You can read the full report here.

Communities Round-Up

The Big Scottish Peer Support Survey

The Scottish Recovery Network has launched The Big Scottish Peer Support survey. They are keen to gather views from anyone who has an interest in peer support approaches to mental health and wellbeing. The results from the survey of mental health peer support in Scotland will be shared and used to champion peer support. The results will add to the many examples of peer support in action across Scotland that the Scottish Recovery Network are collecting and sharing as they seek to embed peer support in mental health systems.

Be part of The Big Scottish Peer Support Survey and raise the profile of mental health peer support!  Take the survey here

Winter Fuel Payments

Age Scotland and many other organisations have been highlighting the harm which will arise from the decision to restrict the winter fuel payments for older people to those in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits from winter 2024. In light of this decision, it is even more important that older veterans are supported to understand their entitlement to, and make a claim for, pension credit. Further advice can be obtained from the Age Scotland Helpline on 0800 12 44 222.

Age Scotland is also gathering signatures for a petition seeking to persuade the government to reverse its decision to withdraw the winter fuel payment from most pensioners. You can find the petition here: Age Scotland | The Scottish Charity for Older People

Follow up from Unforgotten Forces Gatherings

Those who were able to join us at recent Unforgotten Forces Gatherings in Dundee and Glasgow will recall that we had interesting presentations from the Scottish Community Link Worker Network on social prescribing and from the WHO/UCL Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health on the role of the arts in health improvement. Researchers at the University College London research centre have recently published new research findings on the role of social prescribing and arts engagement in improving mental health and wellbeing.

You can access the research articles here:

• Journal article: Social prescribing for individuals with mental health problems: An ethnographic study exploring the mechanisms of action through which community groups support psychosocial well-being (Henry Aughterson, Daisy Fancourt, Helen Chatterjee, Alexandra Burton) Wellcome Open Research
• Journal article: Arts and cultural engagement and subsequent social deficits among older adults: A three-year longitudinal study using the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (Taiji Noguchi, Jessica Bone, Tami Saito, Katsunori Kondo, Hei Wan Mak) Social Science & Medicine
  

Black History Month

Every October, Black History Month (BHM) aims to promote knowledge of black history, culture and heritage, and highlight the positive contributions made by the black community to British society.
You can access useful resources relating to BHM at these websites:

• Black History Month Magazine and Website
• International Black History Month UK
• History.com - Black History Month
• Stonewall Black History Hub

Training & Events

The Combat Stress Centre for Applied Military Health Research is offering a free programme of education and training focussing on the needs and experiences of women veterans. Further details on these programmes can be found at: https://veterans.training

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Course with Armed Forces Community content, Forres, Moray, 27 & 28 November 2024.

This MHFA course will be take place on Wednesday 27 & Thursday 28 November 2024 at the Erskine Veterans’ Activity Centre North, 1 Tytler Street, Forres, Moray, IV36 1GZ.

Expressions of interest to attend are invited from currently serving members of the Regular and Reserve Armed Forces as well as the staff of Armed Forces charities, Service & Regimental Associations and other organisations and individuals who support military veterans.

The course fee of £195 includes provision of all tuition, lunch and refreshments on both days, the course materials, additional resources in soft copy and a completion certificate.

For course bookings and enquiries please contact the course instructor Glen MacDonald via Tel: 07871 250654 or e mail: glenmacdonaldmhfa.afc@outlook.com

Unforgotten Forces Regional Forums