Visiting Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund’s charity partner, Combat Stress
Imagine what life must be like if the very thought of going to the supermarket or navigating the noise and bustle of your local high street fills you with dread? How seemingly normal daily activities bring the memories of a bombing in Iraq or seeing your friend injured in Hellmand flooding back, gripping you with fear and anxiety. Now imagine how amazing it would be if a simple set of exercises first thing in the morning, or what you pack in your work backpack, or how you sleep could alleviate those symptoms and could allow you to live a productive, fulfilling life?
The Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund (LPF) is proud to support Combat Stress, the leading UK charity for veterans’ mental health and an expert provider for complex trauma treatment in veterans. Our funding has enabled them to undertake world leading and innovative research into the emerging field of Sensory Modulation (SM) - a practice used by Combat Stress’ Occupational Therapists to help individuals suffering from PTSD and service-related mental health conditions moderate their anxiety through simple, pragmatic coping strategies and get them back into normal life.
Veterans and their families will now have the chance of living free from the devastating impact of long-term PTSD and the crippling anxiety that goes with it through the adoption of a few simple exercises and interventions.
From tailored exercise regimes to the use of sound and light therapies, to self-administered acupressure, compression clothing, weighted backpacks and even fidget spinners, SM triggers the body’s natural calming mechanisms to reduce anxiety and overcome some of the symptoms of PTSD. Whilst it may seem intuitive there was no body of evidence behind either the effectiveness of the approach, how best to target the interventions or when and how to use it. With the help of the LPF that is what Jolandi and Christie from the Occupational Therapy team at Combat Stress set out to prove via a scientific research pilot.
/
As an LPF Trustee and the liaison with Combat Stress, I had the opportunity to visit the pilot study earlier this year. I’m glad to report that the results of the research have been stunning. SM is proven to work and a whole new area of mental health treatment and intervention for veterans has been opened up. Veterans and their families will now have the chance of living free from the devastating impact of long-term PTSD and the crippling anxiety that goes with it through the adoption of a few simple exercises and interventions. The results of the study will be published to peer reviewed journals this autumn.
As a result of the findings in the study Sensory Modulation will now form part of the 450 treatment sessions Combat Stress provides veterans every month (reaching nearly 5,000 veterans per year) and the will be incorporated in the resources made available online to over 8,000 veterans and their families a year through their digital platform.
It is thanks to the funding and support provided by you, the Lloyd’s market, that the LPF is able to support such initiatives. The LPF continues to fulfil our mandate to help veterans from all three services and their families – a role we have proudly undertaken for over 200 years. Your support combined with the LPF’s reach and vision means that SM and our support for Combat Stress joins The Forces Employment Charity’s Families Employment Advisor Programme, the Nova programme and our famous Sunderland minibus as an example of how we transform the lives of veterans and fulfil our mandate both great and small.
Thank you to Combat Stress for their great work and for hosting me, it is incredibly motivating when you see the difference we can make on the ground. Please keep supporting the Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund and the Lloyd’s of London Foundation with your donations and engagement – we couldn’t do it without you!
Our impact
Find out more about the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund and our wider community involvement, including the Lloyd's of London Foundation.
Lloyd's Patriotic Fund
Our community involvementRichard Williams, Trustee of the Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund
24 Aug 2022