Sue White

In 2007 I wrote a book. My partner, a proud and honorable soldier with 14 years service, developed serious mental health problems after leaving the army.  The illness is called Post Traumatic Stress and my book is called Soldier On.

My book sold, many people seemed interested in our story sadly a catalogue of errors in diagnosing and treating him for this illness saw him eventually sectioned twice as his mental health deteriorated.  He was certainly in a high risk group he saw several doctors with the symptoms of PTSD yet no one seemed to take it seriously.
 
I realised many people care as much as I do and we all know he isn’t the only ex soldier with PTSD there’s a whole army of them.  Many detained as he was in Hospital many more in Prison many being left to Soldier On alone with little or no practical support to survive an Alien civilian community.

In recent years I have worked as a full time Operational Manager for a supported housing provider. Working in partnerships with statutory services and charities we aimed to prevent homelessness and to resettle offenders.

These services were primarily funded by Supporting people and delivered inline with the Quality Assessment Framework.  

Along side my day job I had to become some what informed on the subject “Veterans Problems” and trying to get the right support and a “war pension” for my partner nearly became a second full time non paid job.
 
Things are getting better for us now; we have fantastic support a whole community of friends and family.  

Since writing the book we have been providing support to several Veterans without the support we have had. We have help out with getting Housing, Healthcare.  It is clear that these Veterans are being helped just by meeting other people in the “same boat”. We would love to provide a big house for them all to live in.
 
Soldier On Project wants to raise the awareness and commitment to prioritising healthcare assessments to the ex forces community in statutory services. 

    
The focus of this is on the community that is most at risk, those with mental health problems often with offending or homelessness issues.

The commitment from the government is to provide priority healthcare, the reality is soldiers are still slipping through the net I hope raising awareness in our local community services we can start to change this.

The aim of setting up Soldier on Project is to work along side and compliment other professional and voluntary agencies encountering these vulnerable veterans to identify them and signpost them in the right direction for the specialised support they need and deserve.

Soldier on aims to equip Veterans with the knowledge and skills they need to take control of there own lives with the right help they can address the issues they face.  

“Thank you for taking the time to read my website.” - Sue White