Combat Stress – caring for Veterans' mental health

Introduction

For my undergraduate degree, I studied Psychology, and fascinating it was – it’s related to the human condition, but both the physical and metaphysical perspectives [well, something like that – Ed.].

I was also a member of the URNU, the University Royal Naval Unit, and loved that as well. A little bit of background (i.e. a related post) can be found here.

Based on a gut instinct that our servicemen and women could be treated more respectfully and looked after better, I’ve recently donated to Help for Heroes. Based on my background though, I’ve got a closer affinity to Combat Stress, and this post is designed to help you understand why.

I realise that there are a number of quotes from the Combat Stress website, but I’m guessing you’ll bear with it…!

About Combat Stress

Why Combat Stress exists

Combat Stress is the UK's leading military charity specialising in the care of Veterans' mental health.

We treat conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety disorders.  Our services are free of charge to the Veteran.

Since 2005 the number of ex-Service men and women seeking our help has risen by 72%.  And we have a current caseload of more than 4,300 individuals. This already includes 102 Veterans who have served in Afghanistan and 400 who served in Iraq.

In March 2010 our Patron HRH The Prince of Wales launched our major fundraising campaign – The Enemy Within Appeal.

The £30 million, three-year appeal is designed to help us treat the escalating number of psychologically injured Veterans who are turning to us for help, by:

• Establishing 14 Community Outreach Teams nationwide
• Enhancing clinical treatment at our three short-stay treatment centres

If you need help yourself

This link has the map referred to below in the following quote:

Combat Stress provides effective treatment and support to Veterans of the British Armed Forces who are suffering from mental ill health.

If you or perhaps someone in your family has a problem, then please call us for an informal chat.

Our services are free of charge and regardless of War Pension/Armed Forces Compensation Scheme status.

We have people in your area ready to take your call –8.30 am to 4.30 pm, Monday to Friday.  Simply click on your region in the map [below] for contact details of your local Support Desk.

Veterans do not have to have seen active service in order to qualify for our help – but if you are in any doubt, just ask us.

Some facts re the Falklands War

At a recent Combat Stresss fund-raiser that I attended, Lieut-General Robin Brims addressed us, and mentioned the problems that service personnel faced returning home after fighting in the Falklands War.

I don’t really have time to substantiate the following quote which I believe backs him up, but it’s from here and quotes Guardian and Observer sources:

Since the war, hundreds of veterans, both Argentinian and British, have committed suicide. Numbers of suicides are not recorded by the MoD, but the South Atlantic Medal Association claimed in 2002 that more British ex-servicemen from the Falklands have killed themselves since the 1982 conflict than died in action: 264 they estimated (300 is more recently quoted).

An example is Lance Corporal Colin Deary who lost three friends in the Falklands, was discharged from the army eight years later with drink problems, and in 1994 stabbed himself to death. Similar reports have been made about the Argentinian troops.

[…]

As in all wars but still not adequately recognised by the military establishment, the servicemen and women suffer to varying degrees from post traumatic stress disorder. Many soldiers found it hard to return to normal life, ended up getting into trouble and committing crimes.

Simon Skinner suffered flashbacks and stumbled from one crisis to another attempting suicide on several occasions, becoming an alcoholic and getting into debt, and finally in 1995 having his final flashback. ‘He got out of bed, stood to attention, marched out of the room as if in a trance and, stumbling, fell down the stairs. He died five days later.’

Video highlighting the issue

The Enemy Within Appeal

Caution: this advert features a simulated flashback some viewers may find disturbing.

On 11 March 2010, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, launched the Combat Stress Enemy Within Appeal at St. James's Palace. 

This accompanying advert highlights the emotional 
impact of PTSD on the lives of Veterans and their families.

The key aims of The Enemy Within Appeal are to:

• Raise £30 million to enhance and develop mental health services for Veterans.
• Raise awareness of the plight of Veterans suffering from psychological injury.
• Encourage Veterans and their families to seek help earlier.

Please help us in any way you can.

N.B. You can now follow us on:

 

Enemy within appeal leaflet

This gives info on the appeal mentioned above – probably best viewed in Fullscreen mode…

The Enemy Within appeal leaflet

Wash up

Hopefully you get the general idea. I’m expecting to do another Byte Night sleep-out in the Autumn, but plan to devote any future fund-raising activities to help this cause. I hope you can support me. :-)

Ditches, Cundies, and Burns

A blog post about water drainage – and the lack of it.


It’s a times like these when I’m driving or cycling in our locality, when I feel a bit hacked off. Hacked off because the roads are awash with water, and roads and driving conditions are worse than they need to be.

Photo credit to Steve took it

With the snow rapidly melting, I think it should be running down ditches, flowing away through cundies (drains of loose stones), and into small streams that Northumbrians [and others] call burns.

The problem was particularly bad last year in early September, when a Northumbrian market town was inundated by flash floods. The roads around us were impassable in places, which meant it was tricky getting to the wedding of a couple we know.

The bride was stuck in a traffic jam when the Newcastle to Carlisle road was closed due to flooding, and the priest had to be rescued when his car engine was overwhelmed by standing water! The ceremony went off without a hitch, but about 50 minutes late…

I have been out myself from time-to-time, digging away at the verges on the road that leads up to our house, to let the water run-off into the ditches which usually are cut between the verge and hedgerows / fencing.

In doing so Jim, our next-door neighbour and ‘deputy farmer’ has called over and said I shouldn’t be doing the Council’s job. So, in writing this post I assumed that the Castle Morpeth or Tynedale Council were being dilatory.

A quick Google search showed this FAQ and made me think again:

“Roadside Ditches

Do you know who is responsible for looking after ditches? This is one of our most frequently asked questions.

Ditches on private land are the responsibility of the landowner, roadside ditches are normally the responsibility of the adjoining landowner, legislation permits the Highway Authority to discharge rain water from the highway into these ditches.

In order to keep ditches and drains working properly we advise landowners to:

• clean the waterways on your land regularly to ensure water is able to drain from the highway.
• check headwalls and grills regularly.

Rainfall certainly seems to be more intense these days and this does cause more drainage problems.

If everyone regularly maintained their ditches, a large number of the county's drainage problems would not occur. This would save a great deal of council taxpayer's money that is being used to solve the problems caused by blocked ditches and drains.”

Another hit was this:

“Who is responsible for roadside ditches?

The Highway Authority is permitted to use roadside ditches for the drainage of the highway.

Unless constructed specifically for the drainage of the highway, the maintenance of these is normally the responsibility of the adjoining landowner and not the Highway Authority. If road flooding occurs as a result of obstruction in these ditches the Highway Authority may exercise its legal powers to require the riparian owner to clear the ditch.”

A hit for activities around Alston (in the South of the County) are also enlightening:

Re: 2e/JAN/08 Cllr Pennell reported that he has researched the issue of responsibility for roadside ditches on the internet and noted that councils make a common presumption in law that the owner adjacent to the highway is responsible for the ditches. CALC have asked the county council to justify their position, but have not heard back yet, and the clerk has contacted the Country Landowners Association, who were unable to comment as the council is not a member. She has also e-mailed  the new NFU chairman for Cumbria, who is aware of the issue and willing to follow it up. 

The Traffic Management Committee met last month, and copies have been circulated of the County Council’s worksheet for employees on the cleaning of roadside ditches, and the Highways Act 1980 s101 which lists the power the Highways Authority has to fill in roadside ditches.

Cllr Phillips reported that he had spoken with Geoff Wilson from the Trail Riders Association, who had also offered to look into the issue of where the highway boundary should be. He added that if there is a case to fight, parish councils across the county should be in support. If needs be he will convene a meeting of the Rights of Way committee to discuss in detail.

It was observed that the county council have maintained the roadside ditches for thirty plus years, and it might be that in accepting responsibility for this they might have acquired that duty, possibly there is something about this in case law.

So, if you’ve read on this far – thanks for sticking with it! I had hoped to point the finger squarely at the Council and have done with it.

It now appears that maintaining ditches appears to be the responsibility of the landowner, and therefore I’m guessing it’s not a priority. However, the landowners may well reckon that the Council should be doing it - ergo no-one does. Dah!

I realise that the farmers keep the hedges in order, and it would be great if they could sort out the ditches on a regular basis, or else get a subsidy to do it – we’d all benefit IMO.

A shame that, as I not only agree with Gloucestershire Council but would also say that Councils wouldn’t have to pay so much in road repair bills because of the erosion this undrained water creates.

Bah.

Technorati Tags: frustrated,countryside,drainage,ditches,cundy,cundies,landowner,water

Is Diners Club listening to the Groundswell?

A different type of diner’s club ;-). Photo credit to MamaT
A rant about not being able to get my money from Diners Club – the charge card people.
Set of bullet points to summarise the situation (from my perspective, of course):

• I have over-conscientiously credited £550 to my Diners Club account – i.e. to pay off what I thought was an outstanding balance
• I would like the money back – i.e. I don’t want to spend it
  
  • Anyway, not many places actually take Diners
  • I’m not staying in hotels, so haven’t got any big ticket things to spend the balance on…
• I first start asking for my money to be wired to my current account, probably back in October
  
  • however, there’s some technical issue or other
• I also wanted to pay off my credit card – but they couldn’t do that either
  
  • I thought the credit card was owned by the same company, but I now find that Diners Club has been sold by Citigroup [find out who has bought them]
• Because it hasn’t happened, I’m wondering whether Diners Club is deliberately retaining my credit balance because they are affected by the Credit Crunch
  
  • I’m rather worried I’m not going to see the money again
• Supervisor
  
  • There never seems to be a supervisor to talk with
  • I have been promised a supervisor call-back on two occasions – it hasn’t happened
  • Either they haven’t called, or they haven’t called my mobile
  • Presently I have no messages on the landline number they have for me, and I don’t recall their supervisor calling on my mobile
• That said, Diners have a great first line
  
  • Plaudits especially to Juliet – extremely helpful, patient and courteous
  • Also, Shirley
  • There’s no point having a pop at the call centre people – they are told to speak to a script, and have little discretion.

Anyway, I have no confidence in Diners Club as an organisation, and I’m writing this because I want my money back!
The title of this blog relates to whether I will get satisfaction from Diners Club in the UK because they are listening to people like me to blog and tweet about corporations – although I think not.
If that’s the case, then I will use this post in future to agitate for better Customer service through social media tools like Twitter etc..
I have posted to my personal blog, as it’s a personal matter, but it could be an interesting case study!
I’m going to get in contact with their UK head office – Google led me to this post with contacts details for the Chief Executive’s complaint wrangler.
Update: I've hopefully removed all the apostrophe's from Diners, apart from the photo credit...

Technorati Tags: incompetence,charge card,finance,useless,customer service,diners club,muppets

My Identity being spoofed on YouTube

If you follow my Twitterstream, you will have seen this on Friday:

"Reporting some geezer to YouTube who is spoofing my id & posting humourous videos. Lately however, they are such I must disassociate myself"
http://twitter.com/justingsouter/status/1038229468

By way of explanation, as a result of drafting an experiment with video sites , I came across this user on YouTube.
Having skim-viewed the content, I submitted this text to the YouTube customer complaint web page:

"I would like to complain about someone who is spoofing my ID and my videos. Initially this was amusing, but I find videos which refer to terrorist beheadings (albeit with a toy dog). I deem this to be a completely inappropriate use of my identity. It seems like an open and shut case, and I'd like to know what you are going to do about it."

Although it seemed rather funny, if not painfully embarrassing, I became uncomfortable with how this was developing, and felt I should do something about it. Hence this post on my personal site, as I believe it relates to my personal identity.
This was the clip that got me worried - I haven't watched this all the way through because of being slightly spooked by it all (also, check out the comments):

I would be very grateful for feedback from you:

• What you think
• Should I be worried - or is it a back-handed compliment[!]?
• Whether to contact the YouTube account concerned and how to play it...
• How to deal with this in a sensible way without over-reacting.

Technorati Tags: identity theft,concerning,youtube,lessons learned

BT customer's YouTube complaint

My friend Matthew Rippon recently introduced me to Nina Belk at Zest Innovation.

Nina and co-founder Laura Williams help organisations understand how Customers perceive the service they receive (or don't). At Fujitsu, I have a colleague who leads a Practice doing the same sort of thing.

I reckon that most organisations find it difficult to understand things from the outside in, which is why they need help -- and why the article linked to in the title made me smile (wryly).

The reason for the smile is that Caroline (my Partner - and she of the Prince and the Queen link to the right), has been trying to cancel her BT broadband connection for the last 10 months.

The connection doesn't work (and only ever has done very intermittently) but she can't get through to the blighters to pack it in!

So they carry on direct debiting her account, and she's unlikely to see the money again as the BT Customer Service experience is so dire. She's complained repeatedly and got nowhere. Bah! :-(