We are Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health. For over a century, we’ve helped former servicemen and women with mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.
Today we provide specialist treatment and support for military veterans from every service and conflict, focusing on those with complex mental health issues.
The work we do is life-changing and often life-saving. No one else does what we do.
The first step to access our services is to contact our free 24-hour confidential mental health Helpline. You can call, text or email our Helpline. Family members, friends and carers can also contact us for help and advice. Our specially trained team will provide advice and support about how we, or other organisations, can help. This is the 24 x 7 support line 0800 138 1619
You can also text on 07537 173683 or email helpline@combatstress.org.uk
Standard charges may apply for texts, please check with your provider.
Combat Stress and our helpline are not a crisis service. If you are in an emergency situation and need urgent support please call the emergency services via 999 or the Samaritans via 116 123.
What Happens Next
Referral
If appropriate, our Helpline team will help you to complete a referral form online. We also have Veteran Peer Recovery Workers for veterans who need extra help taking this vital first step, to talk to them, veteran to veteran, about any concerns or questions they have and support them through this process.
Assessment
Once your referral has been submitted and if we think we can offer services that might be suitable for you, we will ask you to attend an assessment with a member of our clinical team to discuss your issues in more detail. We try to ask for as much information as possible during an assessment to match needs with the most suitable treatment as quickly as possible. Sometimes there might be other services that are better suited to help you. Our team will work with that service to help you access the treatment you need.
Treatment
After the assessment, we’ll work with you to plan your treatment to best suit your needs. Each treatment plan is unique to each veteran. Treatment may comprise of one or more of the following areas of help: Building Resilience and Manage Better, Managing the Consequences of Trauma, Trauma-Focused Therapy and Looking to the Future.