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Talk to your GP

1. Tell your GP you鈥檝e served in the armed forces. It doesn鈥檛 matter how long you served or when you left the armed forces.

2. Ask for the term 鈥榤ilitary veteran鈥� 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鈥檛 have a GP

If you don鈥檛 have a GP, it鈥檚 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鈥檛 leave this until you urgently need to see a doctor. If you have a family, it鈥檚 important they register with a GP too.

Find specialist healthcare support

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

• specialist healthcare for veterans in Northern Ireland

If you鈥檙e unhappy with healthcare support

If you鈥檙e 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

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听
• 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鈥檚 important to contact the Op Courage service for your local area. This allows them to give you the best support they can provide.

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 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 .

Combat Stress

Combat Stress is a UK-wide charity that specialises in veterans鈥� 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.

Mind

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

• 听

For support, contact:

Togetherall

听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听听for more information.