Supporting Mental Health charities

We offer mental health support for veterans and military families living with common challenges such as excessive worry, depression and stress.

We also support other charities who provide more complex or specialist mental health support to make sure those in need get the support they deserve. Grants have improved psychological support for our Servicemen, women, Veterans and their families.

There have been long partnership with Adventure Quest, multiple partnerships with Kings College Military Health Research, and multi-year partnerships with Pennine Military Veterans Service or Veterans NHS Wales.

Below are some examples of the charities, and projects we have supported.

Big White Wall
£400,000 granted

Help for Heroes is proud to be supporting Big White Wall, an online early intervention service for people in psychological distress. Grant Funding of £400k has enabled Big White Wall to offer mental health support to Servicemen, women and their families, free of charge.

Loren is a member of our Band of Sisters network. She was just 18 when her husband Jordan was blown up during a foot patrol in Afghanistan in 2009.

Despite injuries to his chest, arm and legs, Jordan bravely returned to Afghanistan to finish his tour of duty once doctors deemed him physically able. A year later, he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Loren says: "We were both only 18 at the time and even though the physical scars soon healed, my husband was diagnosed with PTSD and the life together we’d imagined was taken away from us. Watching the man I loved disappear altogether was the hardest part and I felt like I was grieving for the man that had left for Afghanistan, even though he was physically still here.

"It was incredibly difficult to be his main support whilst also struggling to complete my university studies and feeling and immense sense of isolation.

"Becoming a member of the Band of Sisters has been amazing and a huge morale boost for me – I only wish I’d found them sooner.

"They encouraged me to join a support network called Big White Wall – an online community with professional counsellors available 24/7 that, thanks to a grant from H4H, is free to veterans, serving personnel and their families. Through them, I’ve learned how to stay positive and remain strong for my husband."

If you are a member of the Armed Forces community and need to talk to someone, visit Big White Wall and see how they can help you.

The Bridge for Heroes
£27,000 granted

The Bridge for Heroes (TBFH) delivers direct and immediate support to both serving and veterans of the Armed Forces as well as their families with a strong emphasis on promoting mental wellbeing.

TBFH opened their first contact centre in Norfolk in June 2011 and have had more than 14,000 visitors and provided over 3000 support sessions for both serving personnel, veterans and their families. There are a number of qualified volunteers who man the centre, and the assistance and support provided ranges from PTSD advice, emotional support, compensation advice, pensions, housing, homelessness and many other Service related issues and this is delivered through support/respite sessions.

Our grant funding will provide TBFH with the stability required to cover the running costs and allow them to concentrate on keeping the contact centre open and providing support to those in need.

To find out more about Bridge for Heroes.

Combat Stress
£4m granted

We granted £4million to Combat Stress who help veterans with mental wounds. The money, the biggest grant in the history of Combat Stress, has been used to pay for the much needed expansion, modernisation and reorganisation of their specialist treatment centre, Tyrwhitt House in Surrey, in order to accommodate more veterans and to provide updated clinical and welfare working space.

Help for Heroes Co-Founders, Bryn and Emma Parry, opened the new facilities in February 2011. Bryn said:

"This is a difficult subject for many to discuss. H4H are proud to donate this money to ensure that the centre can get on with their plans immediately and start caring for more of our mentally wounded now rather than wait. 'It is vital that we have the facilities to give our boys and girls the best treatment, for their mental wounds as well as their physical.

"With the increase of tours and the level of mental stress experienced it is vital that we have the facilities to give our boys and girls the best treatment, for their mental wounds as well as their physical."

Toby Elliott for Combat Stress added:

"I wholeheartedly thank Help for Heroes for this absolutely magnificent donation. It will enable us to rapidly upgrade Tyrwhitt House to deliver 21st century clinical services to those suffering from the wounds inflicted by 21st century warfare, who deserve the very best."

In addition to the grant for Tyrwhitt House, Help for Heroes provided a grant for £3.2 million to ‘The Enemy Within Appeal’, launched by Combat Stress.

For support through Combat Stress, please contact 0800 1381619.

Horseback UK
£1.2m granted

We became involved with HorseBack UK early on, recognising the charity's amazing potential to provide a unique outdoor recovery pathway, using horses, the outdoors and adventure training to help individual’s regain confidence, mobility, to rebuild and move forward into their future.

To date, we have provided £1.2m of grant funding to support the charity. This includes capital costs for infrastructure and the purchase of additional equipment as well as an ongoing annual grant of £75k to support the charity's running costs