Mental health support offered to all ex-service personnel
SERVING and ex-service personnel who have mental health issues need to know that they are not alone and that the Guernsey branch of the Royal British Legion has several initiatives in place to support them.
These were set up by the group’s local welfare committee following the suicide of Guernsey ex-marine Corporal Alex Tostevin, who was 28 when he died in 2018.
Committee chairwoman Marlene Place went to Cpl Tostevin’s funeral.
‘I’d only just taken over the welfare committee,’ she said.
‘I talked to his friends, people his age, and it was so obvious that they needed some sort of support.’
Among the initiatives that followed was a monthly breakfast for serving and ex-service personnel and their families and she said this regularly sees up to 70 people attending.
RBL Guernsey central committee chairman Ben Rowe, who left the army in 1993, said he went along to one of the breakfasts, taking his family with him, because he wanted to be involved. He was glad that he went.
‘I walked into a room full of strangers and they just accepted me,’ he said.
He said nothing could compare with the bonds and camaraderie formed between armed forces personnel, since they all knew what sort of experiences each other had been through. ‘I’ve never felt anything like it.’
A big problem for ex-service personnel was losing contact after their time in the service came to an end.
‘You’ve lost all those people you spent your whole life with.
‘As a single soldier, you’re with them 24/7.’
Signposting people to agencies is a key part of the work that the committee does, said Mrs Place.
Since 2018, RBL Guernsey has provided support for 44 individuals, and this has also involved setting up a peer support group to help service personnel deal with stress.
Mr Rowe also attends these gatherings and said they are informal meetings. ‘We go around the table and anyone who wants to talk can talk about anything. You can say what you want in the room and know it’s not going to go anywhere further.’
RBL Guernsey has also held two mental health first aid training courses for armed forces and funded a doctor from every medical practice in Guernsey to attend a conference on veterans’ mental health at the Military Health Research Centre at King’s College in London. A study day was held for civilians who employ or work with ex-military personnel and a pilot study has been carried out into the needs of ex-service personnel on their return to Guernsey. The results of this are now being looked at.
n The next breakfast meeting is in the Oak Bar at Les Rocquettes Hotel between 8am and 9.30am on Saturday. Any serving or ex-service personnel and their families are invited.
n Contact for the welfare team is 07839 774863 or welfare.guernsey@outlook com. To get in touch with Combat Stress Peer Support Group, contact Neal Teers on 07781 128597.
