'Invisible Veterans': Women Veterans In The UK Criminal Justice System
/Forward Assist recognise that women veterans are a hidden, marginalised, frequently ignored & forgotten population. We are actively campaigning for equitable mental health support services & post service employment opportunities. Find out more: https://www.forward-assist.com/salute-her
Forward Assist is a registered charity (Charity Number 1150408) based in the North East of England and led by Chief Executive and Founder Tony Wright, a Qualified & Registered Social Worker, former Probation Officer and Government Advisor with over 30 years’ senior managerial experience of working in a variety of Social Work and Criminal Justice settings. Forward Assist provide support and guidance to former servicemen and women that experience difficulties in adjusting to a new life as a civilian. Forward Assist offer inter-generational support to both male & female veterans and their families. Our clientele is aged between 18-97 years of age and come from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds. Forward Assist has specialist expertise in working with unemployed veterans and those with direct experience of homelessness, involvement with the Criminal Justice System, family breakdown and/or chronic social exclusion. We know that many of the Veterans we engage with have had difficulties accessing support in relation to, mental health and/or service related mental health issues or injuries. Our specialist support workers and therapists assist veterans to access specialist services, navigate the welfare system and claim benefits to which they are entitled.
A large percentage of our group membership is socially isolated or disenfranchised from mainstream services. In response we use ‘Community Benefit’ projects to give our military veterans a sense of purpose, direction and a sense of belonging. These projects give military veterans an opportunity to utilize their transferable organizational & leadership skills. Sport and physical activity plays a big part in our service delivery and we have had some outstanding outcomes for both able-bodied & disabled veterans because of our unique and innovative interventions. Forward Assist is recognised as being at the cutting edge ‘best practice’ and has a comprehensive understanding of the key issues facing those making the transition from Soldier to Citizen. The veterans we work with, help us understand where the gaps in service provision are and we have been able to design an organization that is 'needs led' and not service led. As a charitable organization, we play a critical role in providing support to individuals that have multiple complex issues that can sometimes overwhelm mainstream service providers.
Women Veterans
Whilst the majority of veterans accessing the services of Forward Assist are male we are acutely aware that women Veterans remain a somewhat hidden population in the UK with similar but very distinct support needs. We now have a gender specific women veteran service called Salute Her UK who carry a caseload comprising of over 400 women veterans. Our gender specific consultation groups, political campaign team and research collaborative give us a unique insight to the issues impacting on women during and after military service.
Initially, online discussions enabled us to explore barriers to engagement and give us greater understanding of what their needs were.
The women we spoke to disclosed that they felt uncomfortable telling people that they had served in the military and felt that all services where geared to men’s transition rather than women’s.
In 2011 Tony Wright CEO, was awarded funding from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and travelled to the USA to research services for military veterans with multiple complex needs and discovered that women veterans were over represented in both the homeless and Criminal Justice System.
On 1st April 2016 Forward Assist were awarded funding by the then Northumbria Police & Crime Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird to explore how many Women veterans were involved with the Criminal Justice System in the North East of England.
At that time, our women veterans lead organised a meeting with the Governor at HMP Low Newton in Durham, to discuss the aim of our PCC funded research project. During the course of the meeting he advised that out of 444 prisoners that were incarcerated at that time only five female inmates had been identified as veterans within the last 3 years and unfortunately, none of those were currently serving a prison sentence at his establishment. We asked about the nature of their offending and these included animal cruelty, domestic abuse and drugs & alcohol offences. It was also noted that women veterans had to identify themselves as veterans rather than the prison having this on record at point of entry into the Prison system. It is highly possible that many more women veterans serving custodial sentences have chosen not to disclose their military past and slipped through the net.
Similarly, back in 2016 a meeting was arranged with the then Deputy Chief Executive at Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company and he was unable to identify any female veterans that were subject to Community Rehabilitation Orders. This was probably more to do with services not recognising women as belonging to the CJS Veteran cohort. More recently, it is estimated that up to 1% of all incarcerated women are veterans.
In June 2016 Tony Wright CEO Forward Assist was invited to take part in the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) led All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) On Social Work. (An inquiry into Adult Mental Health Services in England). (Published in September 2016)
Led by Emma Lewell-Buck MP, we were able to highlight the lack of specialist mental health services available to women veterans in the UK.
Forward Assist was delighted to see that the needs of Female veterans were incorporated into the recommendations.
The issue of specific occupationally-related mental health risks was an area flagged in the inquiry. Army veterans are one occupational group that is historically and currently under-served by our mental health services. Almost three million British Army veterans live and work in the UK with an estimated three to five thousand re-entering civilian life each year. Due to the trauma that may arise from serving in the military, many former service personnel will be experiencing mental distress to a lesser or greater degree. Their mental health needs can often have significant social and financial dimensions, including matters such as the integration back into civilian family life and parenting roles. The evidence gathered in the inquiry also suggested that the needs of female veterans have been particularly overlooked.
24. Ensure that veteran mental health services continue to be supported and ensure plans include social work interventions that deliver preventive and restorative outcomes.
25. Establish a government inquiry into the mental health of female veterans with a focus on developing a framework to support them.
Running concurrent with these findings, Emma Lewell-Buck MP has asked numerous Parliamentary questions to try and ascertain the Governments/ MOD’s position regarding support for women veterans. On 5th July 2016, she received the latest data from Sir Mike Penning MP the then Minister of State (Ministry of Justice). However, he was unable to provide, details of the nature of the offending that led to incarceration or provide details of support provided to the women during and after release.
‘No one goes out of their way to end up in the criminal justice system. I came close, but was able to understand that what I was about to do was wrong in so many ways. I believe PTSD has a massive part to play in thoughts and behaviour (some may disagree with me) the problem with PTSD is that we don't realise that our thoughts and behaviour are being controlled. I believed I was making the right decision. I did realise, thinking the way I was, was very out of character and sort help.’’ (Woman Veteran)
‘I would say mental health and lack of support. I was lucky to come out to a supportive partner and family but some people don't have that. I watched some of my friends be discharged at 24 years and all they knew was the army, we all really worried for them all have kept themselves straight and narrow but would have been easy for them to slip. I see crimes such as burglary been down to struggling to find work and support, and assaults been down to struggling with mental health and again lack of support.’’ (woman Veteran)
Forward Assist has recently returned from its third research trip to USA. During our time there we visited numerous Government organisations and specialist services that support Women Veterans after military service. We met with a large number of women veteran support services, including the Women Veterans Lead at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington DC . We also visited the Department of Veterans Services in Virginia and Congressmen Connolly’s Staff Team and were delighted to host us as guests of honour at Fairfax Veterans Treatment Court.
The US are very advanced in their general care and understanding regarding their support needed for military veterans and are able track where veterans are after leaving the services. They are therefore, able to signpost women veterans to localised specialist support services. Any woman involved with Veteran Treatment Courts is immediately allocated a Woman Veteran Court Mentor who helps facilitate access to mental health support, drug & alcohol advice as well as case managing and coordinating care.
On 14th March 2017, Forward Assist were invited to take a group of women veterans to the House of Lords to give evidence on their ‘ lived experience’ as part in the Social Work All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Work. The session was focussed exclusively on Women Veterans mental health needs. During this meeting the attendees shared their personal experiences with several women Members of Parliament, Dame Vera Baird QC and the British Association of Social Workers.
Emma Lewell-Buck MP shared the following information;
· There are currently 3 million veterans in the UK with between 3000 and 5000 re-entering civilian life every year.
· Women veterans are neglected by politicians and by wider support services. Services that do exist are specifically designed for men.
· There has been no national mapping done to find out what happens to women veterans after service.
· Between October 2015 and September 2106, 6,115 armed services personnel – 1,188 of them women - received a MoD mental health disorder assessment (this does not include all of those people who went for help elsewhere).
· Between July and December 2015, 1,439 members of the armed forces – 40 of them women - went to prison.
· US studies show that women veterans are 2 to 3 times more likely than the general female population to take their own lives.
· The APPG on Social Work’s Mental Health Report recommended that mental health services for all veterans include social work interventions that deliver preventative and restorative outcomes as well as establishing a Government inquiry into the mental health needs of women veterans.
Following on from the APPG Round Table event, Anne Marie Trevelyan MP raised the issue of social isolation with the then Prime Minister Theresa May at the Prime Ministers Question Time on March 22nd 2017.
Over the last four years we are proud to have highlighted the plight of women veterans both nationally and internationally. The women in involved in our research and service design can be proud of the progress made to date. Salute Her UK is a ground breaking project and the team has developed a best in class gender specific service, that is both fit for purpose and appreciated by those that use it. We have also facilitated peer led research trips to Holland and The USA and arranged life changing meetings with the Veterans Institute in Amsterdam and the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington DC. We have also facilitated several women only consultation events, including four residential therapeutic retreats in Northumberland and France.
We are delighted to be opening up a new front supporting women veterans and intend to create a bespoke ‘women only’ charity , Women Veterans ‘Trauma Informed’ Community Support Team and a Health & Wellbeing Centre of Excellence in the North East of England during 2021.
Tony Wright CEO
