Leading veterans’ mental health and other experts gathered at ‘Demobbed: the psychological reality of veteran transition in the UK’ conference at the Wolfson Institute, Queen Mary University of London, funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT)…

The conference explored mental illness in the context of transition from the UK armed forces. It considered the patterns of illness and recovery, and how public understanding may be focused on the wrong issues.

In particular, it debated whether an emphasis on PTSD may have distracted attention from other more common mental health conditions. This is set against the falling income of military charities since the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, as the challenges faced by members of the Armed Forces returning from active service fall out of the public eye.

The conference brought together clinicians, policy makers, military charities and the media, to facilitate debate and encourage further research into an area that is at risk of losing public attention.

The event was sold out months in advance with over 90 guests attending. Speakers from the public health, academic and media sectors provided expert insights and latest research findings, including:

Professor Kamaldeep Bhui CBE, Centre Lead for Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London; Kate Davies OBE, Head of Health & Justice, Armed Forces and Public Health NHS England; Matthew Green, journalist for the Financial Times and Reuters, and author of Aftershock: the untold story of surviving peace. A number of academics who are current recipients of FiMT grants also spoke about their research, including Professor Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry at King’s College London who will be delivering a key note speech, as well as Dr Stephen Herron, Research Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast and Dr Nicola Lloyd-Jones, Senior Lecturer, Glyndwr University.

Ray Lock, Chief Executive of the Forces in Mind Trust who also spoke at the Conference on the need to fund research into transition, said: “The Forces in Mind Trust has worked hard to build a greater understanding of veterans’ mental health issues. Since our inception in 2012, one of our key priorities has been ‘to promote better mental health and well-being’ among the ex-Service community. We know that resources are finite, and in some cases actually reducing, and the military charity and health sectors need empirical evidence to understand how to use them to maximum effect.

"Conferences such as this help to identify public misconceptions of mental health and how these can have a negative effect on wider military health and welfare delivery. The Forces in Mind Trust is very proud to have sponsored this event and hopes that this coming together of academics, policy makers and service deliverers will spark wider debates about how better to support ex-Service personnel and their families to lead successful civilian lives.”

Professor Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry at King’s College London, said: “We rely on the men and women of our armed forces to protect us during times of external threat so it is important that we remain alert to their care and welfare once they have returned to civilian life.”

The full programme of the day was as follows:

First Session

Chair: Professor Kamaldeep Bhui CBE, Centre Lead for Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London

Making Veterans Mental Health a mainstream priority for the NHS and partners

Kate Davies OBE, Head of Health & Justice, Armed Forces and Public Health NHS England

Medically unexplained symptoms in the aftermath of war: UK veterans and civilians compared

‘Goodbye to All That’: summary of findings in context

Professor Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry, King’s College London

Closing the gaps: how we can fix military mental healthcare

Matthew Green: journalist and author, Financial Times and Reuters

Second Session

Chair: Professor Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry, King’s College London

How counter-insurgency warfare experiences impact upon the post-deployment reintegration of land-based British Army personnel

Dr Stephen Herron, Research Fellow, Queen’s University Belfast

Leaving the Armed Forces and Living in North Wales: An exploratory study of decision-making as a civilian

Dr Nicola Lloyd-Jones, Senior Lecturer, Glyndwr University

Is there really a need to fund research into military transition?

Air Vice-Marshal Ray Lock CBE, Chief Executive, Forces in Mind Trust