Happy New Year... Welcome to 2022

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Its 2022… and after a bizarre couple of years living with the impact of the worldwide C-19 pandemic, we are ecstatic to be moving into a New Year with lots of new opportunities. We will be developing a host of gender specific ‘person centred’ and ‘needs led’ services for military veterans and their families. We are delighted that our digital telehealth support groups have been so well attended and its wonderful to develop virtual services that attract people from across the nation and beyond. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have continued to work hard and have adapted our practice throughout times of uncertainty to offer vital support to veterans their families, and the local community.
As CEO I want to thank Paula for all her hard work keeping the charity ticking along as I recovered from bi-lateral knee surgery. It was wonderful to return to work and see several examples of continuing professional development which is now embedded into our everyway practice. We are also grateful to our volunteers and those with with lived experience who help us facilitate consultation sessions to help us develop veteran specific services. We are committed to testing out innovative solutions and designing services that truly make a difference in these tough and challenging times. We care deeply about those we seek to serve, where no one is forgotten and everyone is able to live a life of dignity and hope.

Achievements 2021

2+ PARLIAMENTARY BRIEFINGS

Forward Assist & Salute Her gave written and oral evidence at the Armed Forces Bill Parliamentary Defence Committee and the Women in Defence Enquiry. Submitting written evidence to select committees and bill committees is an important mechanism for organisations and individuals to have their voice heard. 

2 SELECT COMMITTEE APPEARANCES 

Being invited to give oral evidence in front of a UK parliamentary select committee is not an easy achievement, yet in the first half of the year Forward Assist & Salute were been invited twice to give oral evidence to Parliament.

Our views on the Health and Social Care Bill, and the Nationality and Borders Bill were actively sought by politicians - we will work harder next year to make BASW a household name in the Houses of Parliament.

8+ MENTIONS IN PARLIAMENT

With all the competing issues in Parliament, and the number of organisations trying to influence politicians, it was fantastic that Forward Assist & Salute Her was mentioned by name more than 8 times in 2021 in both the House of Commons and House of Lords. 

VISITS + MEETINGS WITH POLITICIANS

Our meetings, visits and letters to politicians in 2021 covered a broad range of subjects from the long term impact from Military Sexual Trauma to the need for women to be provided with sanitary products when on Operations. We facilitated face to face meetings with a host of veterans for Leo Docherty MP , David Richmond CBE , Sarah Atherton MP and Jamie Driscoll North of Tyne Mayor. This has resulted in a greater understanding and awareness of the the issues facing those individuals suffering from a lack of support the impact of sexual assault during military service. 

3 APPG EVIDENCE SESSIONS

Salute Her took part in three evidence sessions for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Suicide & Self Harm Prevention. 

6 PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS 

When we need to find out concrete information that isn’t readily available in the public domain, we have worked with MPs to submit written parliamentary questions which will guarantee a response from the relevant Minister. We have done this 6 times in 2021 and we have built a strong base to continue to seek more information through MPs. 

5 MP MEETINGS

Securing meetings with individual MPs is no easy achievement when they are being contacted by lots of organisations, but this year we secured 5 meetings with MPs. 

  • We also facilitated our (abstinence based ) Annual Veterans Therapeutic Recovery Retreat in France.

  • Salute Her facilitated a women only Weekend Retreat in Suffolk

  •  We employed a Family Support Worker.

  • Salute Her facilitated virtual support groups for women affected by Military Sexual Trauma.

  • We now run virtual Gym Sessions, Anger Management Classes, Cookery and Healthy Eating Sessions, Legal Clinics, Mindfulness, Moral Injury Awareness and Sexual Health Clinics.,

  • We collected the Queens Award For Volunteers Award in August.

  • Paula Edwards was a finalist in the North East Charity Awards for her outstanding work supporting Women Veterans.

  • We presented the work of Salute Her to the Labour Friends of the Forces Group.

  • We are working in partnership with Anglia Ruskin University on a research project.

  • We provided oral and written evidence on the UK position regarding Military Sexual Trauma to the President Joe Biden 90 Day Review (US Dept Vet Affairs) into the harm caused by sexual assault in the military.

  • Salute Cafe opened back up for business in August. We served over 100 Christmas Dinners in December with Christmas gifts, children’s presents and pantomime tickets given to those veteran families and isolated, lonely veterans and living on their own.

  • We trained 40 Women Veterans in Parliamentary Debate in partnership with Parallel Histories and Cambridge University Debating Society.

  • We facilitated three 6 week Mindfulness of sleep and Dream workshops with another four workshops planned for 2022.

  • We distributed over 4 tons of food from both Lidl and Sainsburys to families in need during 2021.

The Trustees would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support in 2021.

Tony Wright CEO