Royal British Legion sets up support group for veterans

This is one of the initiatives being undertaken by the RBL to help ex-service people struggling with their mental health after returning to Guernsey.

RBL Guernsey president Bob Place and his wife Marlene were speaking following a report on how a former soldier felt so let down by local mental health services that he carried a diving knife in the hope of being killed by police.

The man was sent to prison for five months by the Magistrate’s Court.

Mr Place said it was when he and his wife were at the funeral of an ex-servicemen who had taken his own life early last year that they realised more needed to be done to help ex-servicemen.

‘We became aware of servicemen in the island who felt that when they came out of the Army there wasn’t a lot of support,’ said Mrs Place.

She said it was only a small percentage of veteran service personnel who suffered mental health problems, but with roughly 2,000 in the island even 1% would mean 20 individuals requiring support.

Mrs Place is chair of the Royal British Legion Guernsey Welfare Team, which has come up with ways to help support former veterans of all three services.

‘There’s a monthly breakfast on the first Saturday of every month between 8am and 9am at Les Rocquettes Hotel,’ she said.

This is for active servicemen, ex-servicemen and their families and she said that at the last get-together 60 people had attended.

They are also trying to help local GPs understand the different mental health needs of ex-servicemen and next week the RBL is paying for four local doctors to attend the 2019 Veterans’ Mental Health Conference at Kings College in London. ‘The doctors are as keen as mustard,’ said Mr Place, who added that if there was a situation where local mental health services were unable to provide the necessary treatment for an ex-serviceman, the RBL would see to it that the individual received treatment in the UK.

The RBL Welfare Team has also arranged for a representative of the Combat Stress group to visit. This group provides mental health support for veterans, and the aim is for a peer-support group to be set up locally.

Two local veterans will be undertaking a training course at Combat Stress in the UK to enable them to help with the peer support group.

Mr and Mrs Place said they had been in touch with Guernsey Mind and were grateful for the support they had been given, which included the provision of meeting rooms.

‘We just want the veterans to know that there is help out there,’ said Mrs Place.

n To find out more about the RBL Guernsey Welfare Team and what it offers, call 07839 774863 or email RBL.welfare.Guernsey@outlook.com.

n Any member of the forces, ex-service people or their families who would like to attend are invited to the next breakfast on 6 April at Les Rocquettes Hotel starting at 8am.