Armed Forces Community Social Prescribing (AFC SPLW)

Most personnel who join the military leave with no underlying issues and go on to further employment or retirement and what could be considered a healthy normal life. However, the type, intensity and duration of service, along with the transition from fulltime military to civilian life, has a negative effect on veterans' wellbeing. The AFC have specific health and wellbeing needs based on its demographics, activities, and occupations, which includes ex-service personnel being more likely to present with complex healthcare needs in comparison with the UK general population. This may include, but are not limited to, alcohol misuse, PTSD, common mental health disorders and many face ongoing loneliness and social isolation.

AFC specific social prescribing aims to support this population, which includes addressing barriers to seeking help and support such as stigma, where around 60% of military personnel with mental health issues do not seek help. Members of the AFC can face a number of barriers to care, which includes a reluctance of ex-service personnel to approach civilian services with a perception that civilian service providers have little understanding of military life. This can have an impact upon their help seeking behaviour and ability to access the support they need. Consequently, they prefer to talk to individuals and organisations who specialise in supporting the AFC, since they believe their needs will be better understood, e.g., veteran specific interventions have a positive impact upon overall wellbeing. Other social prescribing schemes have been found to result in improvements in reducing pressures on statutory services and improvements across a range of health domains including mental wellbeing. However, there is a clear need to improve outcome measurement across current and future social prescribing schemes.