Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund we are inviting twenty of Salute Cafe’s loyal customers and volunteers to a free Christmas dinner on 19th December. This invite only event is in addition to our usual community Christmas Dinner celebration on the 14th December 2023.
The Forward Assist Debating Society have commissioned Parallel Histories to train another cohort of women veterans in the art of Parliamentary debate. On completion of the training in 2024, the women veterans from Salute Her UK will travel to London for a tour of the House of Commons followed by a topical debate in the Palace of Westminster. A big thank you Sarah Atherton MP for making this life changing opportunity possible.
Every time we watch the news we are reminded that we are living in very uncertain times. Yet, kindness is alive and well and thanks to a group of volunteers from Capita North Tyneside our raised vegetable beds at our operational HQ were topped up with soil in anticipation of our volunteers planting kitchen herbs and salad leaves for use in Salute Café in 2024. Similarly, the hardy team also volunteered to weed and dig over Forward Assist’s and Salute Her UK’s vegetable allotments in the grounds of Seaton Delaval Hall. Not content with this selfless act of generosity they also decided to renovate an overgrown plot used by community volunteers to help them improve their own physical health and wellbeing. “Having the ground prepared and ready to plant is a huge weight off my mind. An over grown vegetable garden can be overwhelming both physically and psychologically and I can’t thank the Capita team enough for helping us get this onerous task sorted before Christmas. Thank you.”
The UK Government’s Office for Veterans’ Affairs has launched a major new consultation to gather evidence on the experiences of UK Armed Forces veterans. This consultation will enable them to better understand veterans, their families and their experiences in the community. The findings will be used to shape strategies, and ensure that they make the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran. They are seeking responses from UK Armed Forces veterans and their families, based across the UK or overseas - as well as veteran organisations, charities and experts. The consultation closes on 4 January.
You can take part in the consultation by visiting GOV.UK.
Delighted to report that Forward Assist has commissioned Parallel Historieshttps://parallelhistories.org.uk/ to once again, deliver a series of Debate Training sessions for women veterans accessing support from Salute Her UK. The aim of the Veterans Debate Training Project is to introduce and teach military veterans the art of British Parliamentary Debate. The project is run in partnership with students from a variety of University Debating Societies and in the past this has included students from The Cambridge Union, Newcastle and Northumbria University and staff from the House of Commons Parliamentary Outreach Team. Over a period of eight weeks Veterans are trained in debate techniques and the project culminates in a final debate attended by MP’s, supporters, friends and family members. In recent years, veterans and students have been invited to the Houses of Parliament to watch and perform debates in the both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The Company of Communicators’ 2023 Clarity in Charity in Communications Award has been won by Forward Assist for its campaigns raising the profile of women veterans’ and their struggle against sexual harassment and bullying in the military.
This has been focussed through its charity Salute Her UK giving women veterans access to mental health therapists to help reduce social isolation and loneliness. The Judging Panel acknowledged the strong communications employed by Forward Assist in gaining strong hard-hitting media coverage, through innovative work and ultimately achieving its objectives by being recognised in Parliament and by Government.
Its interesting that for generations, the UK Ministry of Defence has failed to recognise that male military sexual assault victims actually exist, or that it has a duty of care to ensure that those victim/survivors have access to timely, trauma informed support and therapeutic interventions and/or compensation. Over in the USA it is estimated that about 10,000 men serving in the military have been sexually assaulted over the decades. Overwhelmingly, the victims are young and low-ranking. Like the veterans in this report, many struggle when they leave the military and have trouble accessing trauma informed support to help address their multiple and complex and unmet needs in civilian life.
In total we interviewed 30 male survivors of MST aged between 37 to 69 years. 17 veterans classed themselves as single, 10 were married and 3 were in a civil partnership. The majority of those interviewed had served in the Army 53.33% (n16) with 30% (n9) serving in the Royal Navy and 16.67% (n5) serving in the Royal Air Force. Average length of service across the sample was between 2-17 years.
Warning: The content of this report may be emotionally challenging for some people and the lived experience ‘first person’ narratives of sexual assault may be potentially triggering.
https://www.forward-assist.com/s/THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-PDF-Verison-10.pdf
Approximately 250 members of Her Majesties Armed forces were thrown out each year because of their sexuality, and frequently had their service medals withdrawn and pension rights rescinded. In some cases, medals were physically ripped from a service person’s uniform after a conviction at Court-Martial. Those found guilty of identifying as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender sometimes went on to a serve a prison term, typically several months long. Soldiers often faced prolonged exposure to prejudice, discrimination, homophobic abuse, humiliation and for some, physical violence and sexual assault. To combat retaliation, soldiers often lived a double life hiding their sexuality out of fear. There are no accurate statistics to indicate how many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans there are in the UK. However, what we do know from countries like the United States and Canada is that LGBT Veterans are at a disproportionate risk for suicide and other poor health outcomes (Mereish, et al., 2012), due in part, to barriers in accessing services and lack of social support. Sexual and gender minority veterans continue to face stigma and discrimination, which can negatively affect their confidence and self-esteem for the rest of their natural life. Similarly, research in the USA and Canada indicates that LGBTQ+ Veterans are more likely to report poor physical and mental health. Recent data shows minority women veterans have more chronic health conditions and report worse health compared to heterosexual women veterans and non-veterans. They are also more likely to be smokers, engage in excessive drinking, feel sad, isolated and lonely. Additional research in the USA found that LGB women Veterans were at higher risk of military sexual assault and intimate partner violence after service. Read Report Here: https://mark-hosker-g2l5.squarespace.com/s/Consultation-exercise.pdf
Every year Forward Assist take veterans on a life changing veteran retreats in rural France. The retreats offer the benefit of physical, emotional and psychological withdrawal from the stresses and strains of everyday life.
Catching up with lad’s you have served with and shared many experiences with but haven’t seen for so many years. The laughs, the banter, the comradeship, the noisy times, the quiet times was all very therapeutic.
It was great to be lifted out of the everyday humdrum of life just for a few special days and share some great memories with like minded people who are friends for life. Just for a short time we were all in our twenties again.
Most excellent.
Getting away from it all has never been more important and our annual veteran retreats in France are always the highlight of the year for those that access our services. This year was no exception and a great time was had by all. Big Thanks to Richard Skerritt and Bolt Burdon & Kemp for their kindness and generosity.
Labour Friends of the Forces thanks Forward Assist and Salute Her UK for producing the Forgotten Women Veterans report, and Community for funding it. We also thank all the women veterans who gave their time to share their experiences with the research team at Salute Her UK; your contributions will help improve the lives of other women veterans across the UK. Conducting the research and analysis that went into this report has highlighted a shortage of existing UK specific research into the experiences of women veterans, particularly when compared to the research picture in North America. This is a gap we hope future projects will address. Notwithstanding these gaps, this report contains useful and important lessons for, among others, UK and devolved administrations, police forces and the criminal justice system. We hope it is widely read.
Toby Dickinson, Co-Chair Labour Friends of the Forces
This month we said goodbye to Nicole Dodds who has left the employ of Forward Assist and taken up a post with Salute Her UK. Over the last two years Nicole has carried out outstanding interventions as the AFCFT funded, Forward Assist; Family First Project Lead. By connecting military families with the multiple support services available to them in the communities in which they live, we have seen a plethora of positive outcomes. Similarly, her fabulous support to members of the Veteran LGBTQ+ Community, in her voluntary role as the LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator has enabled numerous LGBTQ+ veteran families to access existing community based services and take part in the recent Governments LGBTQ+ Veterans Review. Nicole will be travelling to London in June 2023 with a group of veterans who identify as being members of the LGBTQ+ community for the launch of the LGBTQ+ Review Report findings at the Imperial War Memorial Museum. We wish her well with her future career and thank her for service to both the LGBTQ+ community and veteran families.
Salute Cafe, has over the last few years, acted as a spring board for veterans and their families and we are delighted to report that everyone who has ever volunteered in Salute Cafe are now in either P/T, full time work or enrolled in full time education and/or volunteering for other charities. This year the power of volunteers will take our community fundraising and community work to the next level. We have lots of plans for 2023 and every penny spent in Salute Cafe goes towards delivering our life transforming projects.
Thanks to enhanced funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Fund, Forward Assist are delighted to create Intersectional Pathways for Marginalised male Veterans MST (Males). This additional funding forms an enhanced element to an overall project supporting Women Veterans in partnership with Salute Her UK. With this funding we will develop specialist support and collaborative pathways for males survivors within the Armed Forces community who are survivors of bullying, harassment and sexual assault.
Forward Assist were delighted to receive funding from the Office for Veterans Affairs, Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund. The Forward Assist project will look at and develop a clear understanding of the multiple and complex issues faced by military veterans with lived experience of in-service sexual violence, suicidal ideation and identify gaps in service provision.
We were delighted to host a visit from Johnny Mercer MP at the Forward Assist Veterans Health & Wellbeing Hub. During the visit, Minister Mercer met with Team Salute Her UK and had an in depth discussion on our mutual research papers into the long-term impact of sexual assault on both women and men during military service. We thanked the Minister for funding our next research project looking into the correlation between Military Sexual Trauma and suicidal ideation which starts later this month.
Following the groundbreaking research report No Man’s Land (2019) which explored the lived experience of women veterans living with the long term affect of sexual assault whilst serving in the UK military. Since then, a Parliamentary Inquiry has identified significant failings supporting female sexual assault victim/survivors from all three branches of the service.
This report includes testimonies from serving women and veterans. You can both reports here: https://www.forward-assist.com/salute-her-research
If you are a women veteran or currently serving and need help then please contact: https://www.saluteheruk.co.uk/
Tony Wright Founder and CEO of Forward Assist wins a Silver Lifetime Achievement Award at the Social Worker of the Year Awards in London on 4th November 2022. The Social Worker of the Year Awards is the only major national awards event for social work in England, attracting hundreds of entries every year and reaching millions of people with positive stories of outstanding social work, creative and compassionate practitioners and outstanding practice.
“ I was delighted to receive the Silver Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the last 38 years working in a variety of social work settings. More recently our research, support services and interventions for marginalised military veterans and the creation of Salute Her UK as a dedicated registered charity for women veterans in need of gender specific trauma informed support has taken up a lot of my time and energy and I look forward to learning from and developing services for male veterans in the next few years.” Tony Wright CEO
On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces landed on the Falkland Islands and assumed military control, invading South Georgia Island the following day. The UK launched Operation Corporate – tasked with regaining the British territory in the South Atlantic.Every year, 14 June marks Liberation Day – commemorating the end of the occupation of the islands by Argentina.It marks the day UK Armed Forces advanced on the capital, Stanley, and Argentine troops fled.Liberation Day remembers the more-than-250 British troops who lost their lives during the 10-week conflict. This year we invited a group of Royal Marine Commando combat veterans to our residential retreat in France so they could enjoy a little respite during the 40th year commemorations . Everyone had an amazing break and we thank Richard Skerritt, Barbour UK and Bolt Burdon & Kemp Solicitors for their help in making this opportunity a reality.
“The week was certainly memorable and like others have said ' I haven't stopped laughing '.On a serious point I hope we are able to all meet up again, the time spent with ' oppos' is very important for me. In France it was both an emotional and therapeutic few days.I sincerely send my best wishes to all individuals involved in Forward Assist and really appreciate the essential work they/you carry out.Finally I would like to thank you personally for accommodating all of us.”
We were delighted to host a visit from Rachel Hopkins MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Veterans and Defence People.
Visiting Forward Assist allowed Rachel to see first-hand the variety of support and guidance they provide to veterans, as well as specialist support for those who suffered in-service sexual assault. Founder and Chief Executive, Tony Wright, gave Rachel a tour of their HQ and introduced Rachel to their Women Veterans Lead and Veterans Family First Worker. In June, Forward Assist reported that they have seen an increase in referrals from ex-military personnel since the beginning of the war in Ukraine with symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rachel was joined on both visits by Sharon Hodgson MP, MP for Washington and Sunderland West and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Keir Starmer MP, and Councillor Andy Newman, North Tyneside Councillor and Labour Friends of the Forces, joined the visit to Forward Assist.
