Veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress is delivering free educational and training programmes for professionals working with women veterans, focusing on the specific needs and experiences of women veterans, including military sexual trauma (MST).
MST includes experiences of sexual harassment, bullying and assault that take place during military service. Research by Combat Stress found that women veteran survivors of MST face unique experiences and barriers to accessing treatment and support. These included perceiving healthcare professionals were not aware of, and did not understand, the experiences of women veterans.
The educational and training programmes, funded by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, will be delivered by Combat Stress to build knowledge around the needs of UK women veterans and disseminate evidence-based and co-produced treatment guidance for the management of MST.
The charity has available two free courses aimed at different professional needs:
- 15-minute introductory course about women in the military and MST for anyone who supports, works alongside or comes into contact with women veterans
- a two-hour live advanced online workshop for healthcare professionals and veteran service providers and developers
These courses aim to develop professionals’ understanding and awareness of this important, yet often underacknowledged, group of veterans.
To begin the introductory course please visit https://veterans.training and navigate to the courses page where you will find the Introduction to women veterans’ experiences and needs’ training.
After completing this course, users will have the option of further training. To sign up, users should complete the final form at the end of the introduction training.
