The second Combat Stress Families and Armed Force Race Day is being held on Sunday 23 October 2016 at Wincanton Racecourse.  The first race day, held in 2014, raised just over £50,000.00 for Combat Stress, the Veterans’ Mental Health Charity.  Even if you cannot make the day, I hope you can show your support to the organising committee’s efforts and make a donation to Combat Stress.

Combat Stress is providing clinical treatment and communityand social support today to more than 5900 veterans, a greater number than at
any time in the Charity’s history.  The youngest  Veteran receiving assistance is just 18 years old; the oldest is 97.  In 2014/15 the Charity received 2,328 referrals – a 28% increase on the previous year and is currently helping 971 Veterans who served in Afghanistan and 1,185 who served in Iraq.  Its 24 hour helpline has offered advice,
support and help to thousands more. 

The Community and Outreach Teams working with veterans in their own homes and communities are proving a huge success, while the newly established intensive PTSD Programme commissioned by the NHS is available at the Charity’s three residential treatment centres.  Early evidence suggests that it is the leading treatment programme of its type in the world.  Combat Stress has a strategic partnership
with the MoD and the Department of Health. This enables us to work directly with NHS Mental Health Trusts and Armed Forces Health Networks to develop services suitable for military Veterans to fight ‘the enemy within’ to give each veteran the opportunity to live a fulfilling life.

The committee is dedicated to matching, and hopefully exceeding, the £50,000.00 target, particularly as so many of our outstanding and
brave men and women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other operational theatres in recent years may go on to experience mental health issues related to their service in several years’ time, long after they have left Services.  We must not let them down.