Three years ago, the world went into lockdown, and with this so did the prisons that we work in. For everyone this was an unsettling time.
For Care after Combat, we were faced with a challenge, how could we reach the veterans in custody with prisons in lockdown conditions? To do this we innovated and produced a weekly wellbeing pack individually addressed to each veteran. These included articles of interest, psychoeducational self-help tips, physical and mental activities and a virtual forum, whereby in the absence of our regular forums, veterans were able to take part in responding to a question posed to them and answers shared with other veterans in custody.
Initially we worked with 5 prisons to roll this out, expanding quickly to 25 prisons. Now three years on, we deliver packs to 90 prisons. We have continually assessed and improved the service to ensure cost effective expansion to reach as many veterans as possible, which has allowed us to deliver 15,080 packs to veterans in custody. We have also responded to 3806 letters, forum responses and quizzes.
Since the commencement of the wellbeing pack service we have utilised 227,500 sheets of paper, which laid end to end would reach 67.5km, stretching the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth 241.3 times and 96 boxes of paper which is the same height as 6.5 double decker buses.
An evaluation report undertaken by the University of Lincoln outlined that wellbeing packs “fostered a sense of community, provided a sense of hope and motivated recipients.” One veteran in custody wrote to tell us “Many thanks for your monthly packs which have all been received with a smile. It’s great to know that Care after Combat consistently deliver and make a real difference with the range of advice, humour and reassurance that you provide.”
In the fourth year of service, we hope to expand the delivery of wellbeing packs to veterans in custody and enable more to benefit from the provision of these.
