Supporting Veterans’ Mental Health with Stack Up

Over the next week we’re partnering with Stack Up to highlight issues relating to the mental health of veterans, serving personnel, reservists, and their families. 

Military personnel face extreme pressure whilst serving, and this can remain – or get worse – as they return to civilian life. According to RAND, 44% of US veterans reported trouble adjusting, and 48% reported strains on their family life. Some of the leading mental health issues impacting veterans are depression, alcohol misuse, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the UK, the rate of military personnel seeking help for a mental health issue has increased to 1 in 8 (13.2%). In the US, 23% of veterans using VA healthcare struggle with PTSD, and their recent report shows that 16.8 veterans per day die by suicide.

Video games have been proven to support mental ill health, and this is no different when it comes to veterans. For example, VR gaming has demonstrated that it can be an effective therapy tool for PTSD in certain groups of veterans. Plus, video games can offer further opportunities for communication, help build rapport, and even offer a better quality of communication

Stack Up is a US-based charity dedicated to supporting US and Allied veterans, to help combat mental ill health and foster a community between vets and civilian supporters. One of the main ways they help to tackle loneliness and mental ill health, such as suicide, with veterans is through their Stack Up Overwatch Program (StOP). It offers round-the-clock support via Discord from a team of crisis management volunteers. 

In the run up to Veterans Day on November 11, we will be sharing personal experience stories and resources to support ex-military personnel and their peers.

Follow Stack Up on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to learn more about their work.

Resources

Camp Lejeune Claims Center – information on mental health issues affecting veterans, the stigma/barriers to accessing support, as well as additional support available.

Stack Up Overwatch Program (StOP) – The Stack Up Overwatch Program (StOP) is designed to watch over our community and provide critical support through round-the-clock access to a team of trained and certified crisis management volunteers. (For US and Allied countries.)

Veterans Crisis Line – Text, chat and calling resource (US)

US Crisis Resources and Support

The NHS, the Mental Health Foundation, and Combat Stress all have great UK resources, alongside the Samaritans and Mind’s information on PTSD.