Overview of content:
Supporting Veterans
Further Lectures
Ukrainian Veterans
All manuals can be downloaded
Take a look at our new website
Upcoming events
Dear colleagues,
The return of veterans and combatants to civilian life after their service often poses significant challenges. While communities warmly welcome their returning sons and daughters, there is often debate on the most effective approach for helping them reintegrate into society. This debate has predominantly focused on national perspectives, but the key to empowering veterans and returning combatants lies at the local level.
While it is important to acknowledge that not all soldiers, combatants or veterans will require assistance or experience mental health issues, many can serve as valuable resources within their local communities. They possess skills, experiences, and perspectives that can be instrumental in rebuilding and supporting other veterans.
At the heart of this discussion is the recognition of the multifaceted needs of veterans, combatants, and their families. These needs encompass various aspects, including support during leaves and returns to the battlefield, assistance for injured veterans, mental health support, suicide prevention, support for families, and community integration. Each of these areas requires tailored approaches to address the unique challenges faced by individuals transitioning from military to civilian life.
One crucial aspect of supporting veterans and combatants is understanding the impact of mental health issues such as PTSD, anger, nightmares, and panic attacks. Mental health support is interconnected with nearly every other need that veterans face, from employment and housing to relationships and physical health. Therefore, it is imperative to provide comprehensive mental health services, including psychoeducation and strategies for managing emotional distress.
Furthermore, suicide prevention programs are essential, given the alarming statistics of veterans dying by suicide. These programs must be proactive and accessible, reaching out to veterans in need and providing them with the support and resources necessary to navigate difficult times.
Understanding and supporting families of soldiers, combatants, and veterans is also critical, as they often bear the burden of caring for their loved ones and managing the challenges that arise during the transition to civilian life.
Building resilience via interventions tailored to address combat operational stress for the families during multiple and prolonged deployments, is also important. Though, community integration is equally vital, as it facilitates the social and emotional connection of veterans and combatants with their local communities, fostering a sense of belonging and support.
In addition to addressing the immediate needs of veterans and combatants, it is essential to consider the broader context of post-conflict situations. The dynamics of post-conflict environments are complex, but the objective is simple: to support the country’s efforts at achieving lasting peace. This involves creating economic opportunities for veterans and combatants, enabling their successful transition from a life marked by conflict and violence to one characterised by stability and productivity.
Efforts to support veterans, combatants, and their families require a collaborative approach from communities, governments, and organisations. By recognising their needs and providing targeted support, we can ensure a smoother transition for those who have been in war and conflict, ultimately contributing to the well-being and resilience of their communities.
Supporting Veterans
Veterans often require support for mental health due to the unique stressors they encounter during and after their military service. They are exposure to traumatic events, and extended periods away from home can lead to conditions like PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
Key to empowering veterans and returning combatants lie...
2022Office of Veterans Affairs
The purpose of this desk aid is to help you better understand veterans and their families who might interact with your policies or services, be a customer or require support and advice. Understanding more about this community will allow you to design...
How Common is PTSD in Veterans?
2022US department of veterans affairs
When you serve in the military, you may be exposed to different traumatic events than civilians. The war you served in may also affect your risk because of the types of trauma that were common. War zone deployment, training accidents and military sex...
Sleep Problems in Veterans with PTSD
2022Department of Veterans Affairs
Sleep problems—in particular chronic insomnia and nightmares—are frequently some of the most troubling aspects of PTSD. While these sleep problems are considered symptoms of PTSD, the evidence suggests that they tend to become independent problems ov...
Suicide prevention and peer support in the Armed Forces
2022SSAFA
Being in the Armed Forces means that you are exposed to a higher degree of risk and pressure than you might expect in other jobs. This booklet is intended to help you look out for your teammates by giving you guidance on how to discuss things with th...
What is Resilience
2020UCLA Semel Institute
Resilience is the ability to cope with, adapt to, and overcome challenges. With resiliency training, children and families learn not just to meet challenges but also to become stronger in the face of challenges. Developed by a UCLA-Harvard team, FOCU...
Mechanisms of Risk and Resilience in Military Families:...
2011National Library of Medicine
It is increasingly clear that wartime deployment is a family matter. Almost half of today’s active duty forces are parents, and continuing hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan ensure that growing numbers of military families will experience repeated c...
A conceptual framework to guide the implementation of b...
2020Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health
The Conceptual Framework to Guide the Implementation of Best and Next Practice in Services and Supports for Veterans and their Families (the Conceptual Framework) has been developed as a collaboration between Phoenix Australia – Centre for Post...
MHHRI Thematic page on Post traumatic stress disorder (...
MHHRI
This thematic page covers a variety of links related to PTSD. PTSD is considered to be caused either by psychological or physical trauma, more frequently a combination of both. Traumatic events that may cause symptoms of PTSD are f.e. (experiencing o...
Supporting survivors of human rights violations
2020MHHRI
In the literature, the person who has experienced a severe human rights violation, is referred to as either “survivor” or as “victim”. Both terms are being used, but in some contexts one of them is usually preferred over the other. For example, advoc...
Veteran and Military Suicide Prevention Resources
2022Action Alliance
The webpage that provided resources related to veteran and military suicide prevention. It likely contains information, support services, and resources aimed at preventing suicide among veterans and active-duty military personnel. These resources may...
Veteran suicide prevention
2022U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). A resource page specifically focused on suicide prevention within the context of mental health care for veterans. The VA offers a wide range of services and support for veterans, including mental health care,...
Are you a survivor?
2024MHHRI
Dear survivor and those of you who are close to a survivor. Having one’s human rights violated can lead to painful short and/or long-term physical and/or psychological consequences. In the following you can find information and resources that we hope...
Find information about Ukrainian Veterans here
If you know of more resources related to this topic please forward to us post@hhri.org
All manuals can be downloaded from the MHHRI website
There are three different manuals, which respectively address working with women, with boys and men, and with children who have experienced sexual violence.
The manuals are translated into several languages. The page numbers in each manual remain the same across languages. This allows survivors and helpers to work from copies in their preferred language and read the same content on the same pages. It also makes it easier to teach participants when participants and trainers work in more than one language. The manuals include a toolbox. Survivors can use it individually to regulate their own emotions through grounding exercises or in collaboration with a helper. Helpers can also use grounding exercises to take care of themselves as helpers.
Upcoming events
Global Campus Summer Schools
The Global Campus’s Summers Schools are thought to give you the best international, multicultural and qualified classes in the fields of Human Rights and Democratisation. 9 – 16 March 2024, 26 August — 4 September 2024, 2 – 7 July 2018.
International Congress of Psychology
The International Council of Psychologists is a small (250 members) global organization, whose mission is to advance psychology, promote dignity, justice, and human rights and work for world peace through global exchange, 2024- July 19-20, Prague.
The SVRI Forum 2024
The world’s key research conference on violence against women, violence against children, and other forms of violence driven by gender inequality in low and middle-income countries, being held 21 – 25 October 2024 at the CTICC in Cape Town, South Africa.
The IASP Pan-American Conference
Aims to provide key regional forum opportunities to share expertise, knowledge and insights among peers in the field of suicide prevention. From 19-22 November 2024 in Minneapolis, USA.
We appreciate feedback and comments
Welcome to our new subscribers, we hope you will find our content useful. The Mental Health and Human Rights Info Newsletter is a newsletter with the aim to provide insight on a certain subject across the scope of our work; human rights violations in war and conflict areas and mental health. Our intention is to deliver a newsletter as a short “lecture” where you can find relevant information regarding a specific subject from a mental health perspective. You will receive our newsletter 5 times a year.
We would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on other issues you would like to see in this newsletter or if you are planning an event on related issues, please let us know so we can include your event in our newsletter.
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Sincerely yours,
Take care – and we are wishing you all the best.
Sincerely yours,
Mental Health and Human Rights Info teampost@hhri.orgwww.hhri.org
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