Guidance

Managing your mental health as a veteran

Find out about the support and specialist mental health services available to veterans.

From:
Office for Veterans' Affairs and Ministry of Defence
Published
12 September 2024

If you need urgent help

If you are in danger or immediate risk, ring 999

For non-emergency medical assistance, use the services below:

If you’re not in urgent need of help, consider the options below.

Talk to your GP

  1. Tell your GP you’ve served in the armed forces. It doesn’t matter how long you served or when you left the armed forces.

  2. Ask for the term ‘military veteran’ to be recorded in your patient record. This will help your GP to better understand any military-related health conditions you may have and ensure you are referred, where appropriate, to dedicated health and well-being services for veterans.

  3. Give your GP any paperwork and medical records from your military medical centre. This helps to ensure your military health record transfers to your NHS record.

If you don’t have a GP

If you don’t have a GP, it’s important to register with one as soon as possible. They should be your first point of contact for managing your mental health as a veteran. Don’t leave this until you urgently need to see a doctor. If you have a family, it’s important they register with a GP too.

Find specialist healthcare support

You may be entitled to specialist healthcare support. Find support in your area:

If you’re unhappy with healthcare support

If you’re unhappy with the service you receive, talk to your GP or contact the relevant ombudsman in your region:

If you live in England, contact Op Courage

What is Op COURAGE and how can it help?

Op Courage is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to support veterans and their families.

To receive help and support from Op Courage, you must:

  • be a resident in England and have served in the UK armed forces for at least a full day
  • be registered with a GP surgery in England, or be willing and eligible to register with a GP
  • provide your military service number

You can contact the service by:

  • directly getting in touch yourself, or through a family member or friend
  • asking a GP or other healthcare representative to refer you
  • asking a charity to refer you

It’s important to contact the Op Courage service for your local area. This allows them to give you the best support they can provide.

Contact Op Courage if you’re a resident of England.

Find mental health and addiction advice

The NHS offers advice on a range of mental health and addiction issues, such as:

Charities that can help

There are a number of organisation that can provide further support with your mental health, including:

Samaritans

The Samaritans Veterans app is a free app that can provide you with emotional support after your career in the armed forces.

If you need someone to talk to, you should contact a Samaritan.

Combat Stress

Combat Stress is a UK-wide charity that specialises in veterans’ mental health. They can help deal with issues like trauma, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Services are free of charge to veterans and can be provided either over the phone, online, in the community or at one of their treatment centres.

Combat Stress
Telephone: 0800 138 1619
Email: helpline@combatstress.org.uk
Website: Combat Stress

Mind

Mind is a mental health charity offering advice and information to anyone experiencing mental health problems. See:

For support, contact:

Mind
Telephone: 0300 123 3393
Email: info@mind.org.uk
Website: Mind

Togetherall

Togetherall is a mental health support service that provides:

  • anonymous, round-the-clock online support with trained counsellors
  • a supportive community, including forums for safe conversation
  • free resources to help you improve your mental health

All armed forces serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families can access these services at any time.

Help for Heroes

Help for Heroes provides assistance to help improve the mental well-being of veterans and their families through services addressing depression and anxiety. The charity also delivers a variety of specialist courses, programmes and activities to help improve and increase understanding of psychological well-being. Visit Help for Heroes - Mental health care for veterans and families for more information.

Find more organisations

To search and filter support organisations by topic and location, visit the GOV.UK directory for veteran support.

Search veteran support directory

Updates to this page

Published 12 September 2024

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