female veterans with substance issues, the problems are predominantly with alcohol rather than drugs. Among the Rebuild Project’ s clients, it’ s‘ usually co-morbid, but is often more alcohol,’ says Jassal –‘ although ketamine is a frequent one, along with cannabis.’ Clients find the EMDR process particularly helpful, she says, with‘ very positive outcomes – including reductions in alcohol use and overall mental health’.
So do her clients feel there’ s traditionally been little support available for them?‘ Definitely,’ she says.‘ A lot of the support organisations that are out there are very male-centric – in the advertising the pictures are always of men and the services are run by men, so it doesn’ t seem very welcoming for a lot of females.’
VITAL WORK
The 2022 follow-up to the No man’ s land report pointed out that as little as 2 per cent of veteran research even mentions women, let alone has women as its focus, and there is still‘ worryingly, little if any’ UK academic research looking into female veterans’ health and social welfare – either in their military career or afterwards. This is something that renders them effectively‘ voiceless and disenfranchised’, it says. This makes the work of projects like Rebuild even more vital.
A 2021 study published in the journal Addiction found that almost half of women veterans in the UK were drinking at hazardous levels.
GAINING TRUST Given the sense of isolation and disconnection that some women veterans can feel, does it often take a long time to gain their trust?‘ It really depends on the client and their needs, and also the experiences they’ ve gone through,’ Jassal says.‘ It depends on the trauma. I think they find it easier to open up because I’ m female myself – they would have found it a lot harder if I was male – but with some clients, especially with the alcohol use being so substantial, there’ s often more selfcare work that needs to be done. So that can kind of put the therapy aside to some degree.’
Women now comprise just over 10 per cent of UK armed forces personnel – although the MoD is aiming for 30 per cent by 2030 – and their role has changed substantially over the last century. Whereas during the First World War they were likely to be confined to nursing or domestic roles, they’ re now able to serve in close combat – with all the attendant dangers of injury and PTSD.
Worryingly, however, the risks of trauma aren’ t just limited to the battlefield. Military sexual trauma( MST) is defined as harassment, bullying or assault that occurs during military service, and according to a survey by Combat Stress one in five women veterans reported being the victim of sexual harassment and one in 20 of a sexual assault during their time in the military – this is alongside a fifth who’ d experienced emotional bullying. The No man’ s land report, meanwhile, estimated that more than three quarters had either witnessed – or sustained – a physical or sexual assault, with less than a quarter of those who experienced inappropriate or criminal behaviour feeling able to report it.
TRAUMA FAMILIARITY Added to this, some female veterans will have experienced sexual abuse even before entering the military, and perhaps joined at a young age as an escape from their home environment. The‘ likelihood of experiencing childhood abuse, especially physical and sexual abuse, is higher for individuals with military service compared with the general population’, another Combat Stress report points out.
How many of the Project Rebuild clients have experienced sexual abuse?‘ The majority,’ Jassal states.‘ But in a lot of cases it’ s childhood sexual abuse. A lot of the women actually don’ t experience trauma in the military, but it’ s often what’ s led them to the military. As there’ s a lot of childhood sexual abuse, there’ s that trauma familiarity that they’ ve gone on to navigate their life with to some degree.’ The women will then‘ re-experience mistreatment from men around verbal abuse and harassment’, she says.‘ I’ ve found more that women have been sexualised through verbal abuse from males, rather than rape, within the military. The sexual assaults have usually happened prior to joining the military.’
This existing trauma can be compounded by‘ going into the military and not having that strong sense of self’, she says,‘ and then coming out in a vulnerable state’. Even with one client who had served in combat situations,‘ her trauma isn’ t about the combat,’ she states. In terms of female veterans being voiceless and disenfranchised, however, things may be slowly starting to change. The project has built strong links to other organisations, and there’ s a great deal of effective partnership working, Jassal says.‘ There’ s other charities such as Salute Her
‘ A lot of the support organisations that are out there are very male-centric – in the advertising the pictures are always of men and the services are run by men, so it doesn’ t seem very welcoming for a lot of females.’ Simran Jassal is high intensity CBT and EMDR therapist at WithYou.
and Tom Harrison House, and there’ s also the Female Veterans’ Transformation Programme, which has been developed by women with lived experience. We work quite closely with them, and they’ ve put together a package that includes housing support, mental health support, physical health support, all for women. That’ s a great toolkit.’
‘ Female veterans are not a homogenous group – they are a diverse group of women of different ages, experiences, ethnicities and backgrounds, who often go unrecognised,’ the toolkit says. While most female veterans won’ t necessarily need additional support in transitioning to civilian life,‘ for those that do, all organisations need to do more to make sure they get the right support at the right time and in the right way.’
So is Rebuild likely to become a permanent service?‘ We’ ve proposed 12 months, but we’ re looking at potentially expanding and extending that, depending on the results,’ she says.‘ But it’ s looking really good so far, so I don’ t think that will be an issue.’ DDN
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