The aim of the Veterans Integration Programme (VIP’s) is primarily to engage with ex servicemen/women (veterans) who may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which may have resulted in imprisonment, homelessness or substance abuse. The programme will provide a localised and individualised resettlement and reintegration process, tailored according to personal needs and requirements; allowing a smooth and seamless transition back into civilian life.
Furthermore to create a culture of support through a veterans network and to work in partnership with key stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary sectors. This will enable highly skilled, disciplined and self motivated people to make a positive contribution to society in general and to their communities, in particular working with ex-offenders and young people on the cusp of anti social behaviour.
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex psychological reaction to extreme stress or trauma. Presently we are seeing a number of former members of the armed forces who have suffered severe trauma to an extreme event. For (PTSD) to develop the sufferer must have been exposed to situations in which physical harm was present or threatened. Some examples may be combat, viewing the death of a comrade or other natural disasters.
The signs of someone suffering from (PTSD) are that they want to get their life back to what they had before. They will want to get back to before the event happened. They will want everyone else to understand what they have been through. The result for some is that their life cascades into unhealthy coping strategies, such as alcohol, drug abuse or deliberate self harm. It is a fact that when they leave the garrison gates many of them are lost and embark into loneliness, isolation, depression and marriage or relationship breakdown and then in some cases prison.
When listening to someone who has (PTSD) there is typically a ‘flashback phenomenon’ which arises because they are stuck in a mental and emotional loop. The person can replay a movie of what happened but only to a point where there is a kinaesthetic spike and at this point they do not know how to ‘finish’ their movie. In fact people with mental illness do not connect the outcomes with their behaviours so there is a need to tease out the factors that they can influence and the ones they cannot.
All of our training programmes are individualised according to the client’s needs and requirements, veterans as well as our other ex- offender clients are all required to engage with treatment services if they have substance misuse issues. Retention on the programme as well as our other training programmes would be strictly and directly linked to abstaining from drugs & alcohol while receiving treatment. In addition, we foster a whole family approach attitude to be considered involving Family Intervention Programmes (FIP’s), Social Services and Substance Misuse teams, 3rd sector and voluntary organisations inmost cases.
Volunteer and Peer Mentor projects work well in our experience from the offender arena, in implementing change of self esteem and motivation we need to work from within and from the bottom up. The current issues can be addressed but will continue in the form of the veterans using the mentors as role models and continuing in their footsteps. Therefore, the best people to implement sustainable change with the client group would be veterans and ex-offenders who have successfully completed the skills and employment programme, undertaken volunteer training and are able to establish peer mentoring groups.
Maximum effectiveness and efficiency of the programme arises from a proactive, multi agency, multi tiered approach with sustained interventions over an extended period.
