Improving Understanding Of Military Mental Health Needs

Forces in Mind Trust has awarded the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) £95,877 to conduct a systematic review of evidence of the mental health needs of serving and ex-Service personnel and their families since 2012…

The 9-month project will cover all three services, in the context of their transition to civilian life, and will include the perspectives of key stakeholders.

Areas where the evidence is strong and where there are gaps in evidence will be recorded, and where evidence allows, recommendations will be made for the attention of policy makers and service providers, along with future areas on which to focus research.

The review will also include the construction of an evidence map of research on interventions to promote, detect, prevent and treat the mental health of serving and ex-Service personnel.

A comparison between the 2013 FiMT commissioned mental health review will also be undertaken to determine the continued relevance of previous findings and to assess where progress has been made on the report recommendations.

Ray Lock, Chief Executive of the Forces in Mind Trust, said: “One of the founding priorities of FiMT is ‘to promote better mental health and well-being’ and ‘to build organizations’ capacity to deliver evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation’.

“The Trust has worked hard to develop an understanding of the mental health environment, and to identify where it can best deploy its finite resources to maximum effect.

“The review by NatCen will ensure that we are utilizing the most accurate and up-to-date information, to ensure policy makers and service providers have the necessary information to act in the best interests of the minority of ex-Service personnel who need to access mental health support.”

Guy Goodwin, Chief Executive of NatCen said: “We’re delighted to be working with Forces in Mind Trust on this important project. It’s an excellent opportunity to improve our understanding of the mental health needs of current and ex-Service personnel, to help target support and care where required.”