It’s been a busy time for the Armed Forces this year, between the tumultuous tensions of NATO and Russia due to the latter’s attack on Ukraine; four-days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Armed Forces Day in June, those infamous King’s Guard Tik Toks, and of course, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s State Funeral procession, it’s no wonder we’re seeing Military representation everywhere currently.
The Armed Forces are made up of the British Army, Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy (take the tactical ordering of them in this sentence as you will…) and collectively consists of just over 158,000 personnel as of April 2022. However there are far more veterans in the U.K, topping over an estimated 2.4 million according to the Royal British Legion.
So what does the Caja health and social care blog have to do with veterans? This author and ex-Army nurse would argue everything….Let’s march on.
Veterans and serving personnel are a hardy bunch who thrive on banter, Haribo and brews to aide their morale. To the point that various senior Officers are known to bring their own tactical green coffee bean grinders on deployment to maintain the caffeine train…
Smiling in the face of adversity, improvising, adapting, and overcoming are just some of the fantastic characteristics that veterans will have gained through their service, as well as discipline, project management and leadership skills.
The challenge for many, is adjusting back into civilian life, or ‘civi-street’, after being part of something that not only feels like that biggest family in the world, but also feeling a part of something bigger; giving purpose and a common goal to many. To come away from that environment can be both daunting and disorientating.
Work is not only something needed for income, it can also provide a sense of purpose and belonging, and there is an emphasised significance of this for veterans trying to find their place where their military experience can apply. Thankfully, The Armed Forces Covenant was brought in by the government which stands as a voluntary promise from businesses and organisations to support the Armed Forces community, including supporting the employment of veterans. At Caja we believe, as a nation, we have a moral obligation to support members of our Forces and their families and we’ve signed The Armed Forces Covenant as an expression of this. This is further reflected by one of our own company directors, who has over 20 years Royal Airforce service to his name and one of our Junior Consultants, who served in the Army for 7.5 years. Working for Caja gives our veterans a chance to apply their years’ worth of honed military skills and apply them into a consultancy role, which offers the variation, multi-team working and common goal they’ve been used to previously.
Now this wouldn’t be a health and social care blog post without some healthcare sprinkled in. At Caja we take our mental and physical health seriously and recognise that mental health is a greatly underfunded sector with stigma still prevalent, which can make it harder to seek treatment. A 2022 study (Finnegan, A. and Randles.R) found that 38% of veterans suffered with a common mental disorder, with this being more common in female veterans. Let’s refer back to that Royal British Legion figure of an estimated 2.4 million UK veterans; that’s at least 912,000 people suffering with some form of mental health problem.
This is reflected in organisations like The Poppy Factory, who help ex-service personnel with health problems to find work. They report that 4 out of 5 of the people who need their help, suffer with mental health conditions and struggle with barriers in work after their discharge. They recognise the positive benefits of finding the right kind of employment and have funding through the NHS for projects all over the country. This is why Caja is proud to be a part of The Armed Forces Covenant, we know the difference it can make.
Our Head of Business Operations recently had the opportunity to attend a 2-day mental health first aid course, which means she is now equipped to recognise signs of mental health conditions, deterioration and provide help and guidance towards support. This is an invaluable resource to have at Caja and ensures we have the capability of providing a safe and supportive environment for our veteran and civilian colleagues alike.
At Caja, we are driven by helping other businesses and organisations thrive and understand what it takes and apply this to ourselves. So why not take advantage of our wide-ranging expertise of working in the MoD, public, private and higher education sectors and see how we can help you create the best environment for your organisation and employees to flourish? Our office has the brews flowing, the banter on top form and snacks always ready, so come and let’s have a chat.
