You’ve served your country and seen some things that it’s difficult thinking about never mind talking about and you’ve probably been living on the edge.  Now you’ve turned a corner in your life, you’ve left the military for a new life as a civilian, a point we will call armed forces resettlement, and it’s going to be just great – right?  Wrong!  How do you cope with this lack of structure, discipline and training?  Can you turn to the military – of course not because now you’re not in it, you no longer matter to them.  What can you do?  Who do you turn to for assistance?  What you need is an armed forces resettlement survival handbook .  Hopefully that is where I can help.

 Who am I?  My name is Richard Williams and I served 6 years in the British Army between 1987 and 1993.  During my time in the Army I went to the first Gulf War, spent time in Northern Ireland and served with the United Nations Protection Force during the Serbo-Croat War.  At times I felt I was living on The Edge.

 Why did I feel like I was living on the edge?  Whilst on these tours of duty I was exposed to what I perceived as potentially dangerous and life threatening stimuli.  These stimuli included the threat of ambush, anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines, small arms fire and snipers.  In a short but very distressing period during the mid 90’s I suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as problems with resettling from a military to a civilian life.  Armed forces resettlement isn’t a straight forward process by any means.

 Since then I have survived the distress of armed forces resettlement (including Coping with PTSD), I have learned to cope with civilian life and I have qualified as a Registered Nurse in Mental Health with a special interest in assisting former members of the Armed Forces.  So I think I can not only speak from experience but also my professional training as a Mental Health Nurse fully equips me to offer help and coping strategies to those who feel they have Military Mental Health problems and don’t have any where else to turn.

 There are many issues affecting former members of the armed forces during the armed forces resettlement phase, people who are used to discipline and structure.  These issues include:

·        Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

·        Military to Civilian transition (armed forces resettlement)

·        Lack of motivation

·        Lack of direction

·        Anxiety

·        Managing Anger related issues

·        Depression

·        Psychosis

 The list can go on, the transitional period can be a very distressing period itself and is a time when ex-armed forces personnel need guidance to provide some direction (an objective), which in turn may motivate individuals.  On this site ‘Armed Forces Resettlement’ you will find help and information on many of the issues that may affect you as you go through the process of armed forces resettlement survival.

 Remember you don’t have to go through it by yourself have a look at the information contained throughout this site, there is hope and the future can be very bright no matter what is going on in life at this time.  It’s time to start looking for solutions for your future. Click Here

Richard Williams RN(MH), Dip. HE, Cert. Mentorship

(Founder of Armed Forces Resettlement)