ITV News speaks to one of our service users | News

One of our service users from our London Op COURAGE: Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service was interviewed by ITV News as part of our latest Op COURAGE campaign.

During the interview, Larissa talks about her experience in the armed forces and the toll it took on her mental and physical health.

She also recognises the struggles that many veterans like her have and how mental health issues can last for a long time.

Dr Jonathan Leach OBE, NHS England Associate Medical Director for Armed Forces and Veterans Health, was also featured in the news piece.

He said:

“What we’ve been trying to do is to reduce the barriers to speed this up and in particular, before people develop problems with alcohol or drugs.

The longer people leave it, it’s often more difficult and the success rates are lower.”

You can watch the full interview here.

More about our service

Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help Armed Forces veterans and their families, serving personnel due to leave the military and reservists who are struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.

North London Mental Health Partnership is the lead provider of the service in London. Our team helps with the full scope of mental health difficulties, ranging from mild to severe and complex issues, even if experienced years after leaving military service. We work closely with other NHS services and veteran charities to provide support for both the individual and their family.