The Female Veteran

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Welcome to our second newsletter - we are delighted to have you with us and excited about sharing what is going on across the sector…

Getting involved with the Female Veterans’ Transformation Programme

Are you a female veteran? If you have ever served, whether for one day or 22+ years, we would love to hear from you, even if you have never accessed support services
Are you a service provider, employer or charity that work with female veterans?

Please head over to our website (fvtp.org.uk/get-involved) and complete the relevant questionnaire to help us find out: 'What does 'good' look like for female veterans services?'. Questionnaires will close on 21 June.

You are the experts on service provision for female veterans and we can't do this without your voices.

We know that you have probably been asked for your opinions and views A LOT and may feel like there is ‘no point’ or ‘no-one ever listens’, so we committed to produce a ‘you said…..we did’ response to the co-production which will eventually be available on our website for you to see and to check we listened.

We are running face-to-face and online focus groups in the late summer/autumn so please register your interest in taking part in a focus group on the website too (fvtp.org.uk/get-involved). Keep an eye on our social media channels to sign up to focus groups as they go live!

Your opinion matters so any information you can provide will go a long way to helping other female veterans in the future.

Thank you.

Salute Her UK is a strong voice advocating for a holistic, compassionate continuum of services, treatment and care for our women veterans, families, care givers and care providers.

Salute Her UK works to improve the lives of UK women veterans by addressing the distinct and intersectional needs of women veterans. We highlight the unique and often unrecognised challenges facing women veterans both during and after service. For example, issues regarding gender, age, social class, race, disability and sexual orientation.

To read more about how Salute Her UK came about and to learn about their research click here.

Welcome to The V Word, the vibrant and empowering online haven built by women veterans, for women veterans. We’re all about coming together, and changing the narrative in ways that create lasting, positive impacts for generations.

And guess what? It’s completely FREE!

Our Mission? Empower women veterans across the UK with the resources and peer support needed to smash their goals! We envision a connected community where every woman veteran feels valued and unstoppable!

Creating an inclusive, safe, and welcoming environment where members can network, support each other, and share invaluable advice and experiences.

You can read more about how The V Word is building a strong community, empowering women veterans through collaboration and hear the words of those who have joined this group, as well as how you can get involved as a sponsor in their blogpost here.

Interested? Reach out via ria@thevword.uk or check out their website here.

At The V Word, we’re not an organisation—we’re a community! #StrongerTogether

In conversation with Liza Jarvis

Liza Jarvis is Project Lead for the Female Veterans’ Transformation Programme and she shared her thoughts on working with the Armed Forces Community with us.

How did you come to lead the Female Veterans' Transformation Programme?

Coming from a military family I have always wanted to support the Armed Forces Community (AFC), plus living in Plymouth many of my friends have either served or are still serving so the military community is part of my everyday life in many ways. I started working more closely with the AFC at the end of 2019, when we started the NHSE AFC Social Prescribing Demonstrator From there I felt like it was a natural progression to lead the Female Veterans’ Transformation Programme to put all my skills to very good use.

What most excites you about this programme?

I feel very privileged to be part of this programme and to highlight not only the things that need to be improved to support our female veterans, but also to raise their profile and showcase that women also served and have made fantastic contributions to our Armed Forces. I also think the opportunity for collaboration is amazing, both with female veterans themselves but also organisations at all levels and from across the whole of the UK, the opportunity to work together and develop the important work that has already been started is a huge strength.

To read more of our conversation with Liza and learn about her thoughts on the challenges of the programme and her experiences of working with the Armed Forces community, click here.

Spotlight on Wales

Did you know there are 15,970 female veterans registered as living in Wales?

The Female Veterans Alliance (FVA) is a national non-profit organisation that aims to empower and support females who have served in the UK Armed Forces. Our mission is to provide advocacy, resources, and a supportive community for female veterans. We recognise the unique challenges faced by females in the military and veteran community, and seek to address these by promoting gender equity, advocating for policy changes, and fostering a sense of belonging and sisterhood among female veterans.

You can learn more about our at FVA, how it came about and what we have been up to here. We are holding our next workshop at the Village Hotel, Swansea on 26 September 2024.

We are really keen to get as many female veterans together to chat about any challenges you faced during Service, transition and integration back into civilian life, as well as the themes of Community and relationships; Employment, education and skills; Finance and debt; Health and wellbeing; Making a home in civilian society; Veterans and the law.. We are also equally as keen to hear about any positive experiences you had during these times.

This project is being led by 2 female veterans and this workshop is a space where we can come together for you to be seen and to be heard. As a collective, we have the power to drive positive change. Is this something you would like to get involved in? Don't miss this opportunity to network and learn from each other. You can register by clicking on the image below.

As we will be collating the findings from this workshop and publishing the commentary and recommendations, due to limited spaces and to ensure we have accurate data, please note that this workshop is open to female veterans that did not attend the previous workshops in June 2022 or October 2023.Thank you for your understanding and support.

Have you heard of … Smart Works?

Smart Works is a UK charity that helps women get back into the workplace.

At the heart of Smart Works sits coaching, confidence and clothes which helps you be the best version of yourself at a crucial moment in life. We are a referral organisation, for women over 16 who are unemployed. We are a nationwide organisation, check out our website www.smartworks.org.uk

Smart Works offers career coaching to support women who are job searching. We offer a one-hour career coaching in person or virtually with a trained volunteer who works with client to improve confidence and identify the next steps to maximise the chance of securing an interview.

Once you have a confirmed interview date, you can be booked in for a 2-hour dressing & interview prep session. To learn more about what this involves, check out their blog post here.

We are proud that 69% of clients secure a job within a month. Once you get the job, come back to us for a Second Dressing and receive a capsule working wardrobe of 10-12 pieces of clothing to mix and match with the original outfit. We look forward to welcoming you!

That’s enough about us and our partners, what about you? We envisage this newsletter as championing the needs of female veterans and we want to use this space to showcase female veterans whether in business, as authors, in history, the news and in research. Please get in touch if there is something you would like to share in a future edition. You can email hannahwest@fvtp.org.uk.

Female veterans in business: Nicki Bass, Resilience at Work

I left the Army in 2017 having completed a Masters in Occupational Psychology and decided to set up my own training and development business, Resilience at Work. I have long been fascinated by the concept of resilience and how it is built through adverse experiences as well as our connections with others.

Having always enjoyed adventure sports, particularly snowboarding and surfing, I am particularly interested in how the challenge inherent in these activities can be applied to other areas of our lives and researched this for my Masters and now doctoral thesis. I incorporate this research into my client programmes and workshops, using experiential adventure activities combined with team, leadership and wellbeing theory to help teams and employees develop their performance and resilience.

To learn more about Nicki’s background and how she uses the concept of everyday adventures to inspire her work (as well as checking out her amazing TedX talk), click here.

Author spotlight: Helen Fry

Historian and biographer Helen Fry is the bestselling author of The Walls Have Ears, Spymaster, MI9, and more than twenty books on intelligence, espionage and the social history of the Second World War. Her latest book Women in Intelligence provides the first full history of women in British intelligence across two world wars.

We are delighted that Helen has shared with us a glimpse into her latest book, available in paperback from 25 June, and you can read this extract here.

Researcher spotlight: Tara Zammit

Tara's research connects diverse literature on ontological security, feminist security studies, and war studies to explore integration, belonging, and the challenges around the implementation of diversity and inclusion policies in the British Armed Forces. She is developing a framework for better understanding the interconnectedness of these subjects through the use of an ontological security lens and an analysis of diverse service experiences with the aim of influencing policy to better support women and LGBTQ+ individuals pursuing careers in defence and security.

She is interested in speaking to currently serving personnel and veterans (women and LGBTQ+ personnel; and serving men and male veterans with experience related to D&I, welfare or similar) and individuals working in policy, NGOs, charities etc. who work with these communities. Her research has been approved by the MOD Research Ethics Committee.

Female veterans in history: The unyielding spirit of Noor Inayat Khan

In the annals of military history, the courage and espionage of Noor Inayat Khan stand as a testament to the extraordinary contributions of women in wartime.

Trained as a wireless operator, Noor was the first woman radio operator sent into Nazi-occupied France in 1943, under the codename "Madeleine." With her quiet defiance, she ran a spy circuit in Paris, relaying crucial information back to London. Despite the Gestapo's relentless efforts to dismantle the SOE network, Noor remained the last vital link.

Noor Inayat Khan's legacy is a stirring reminder of the indomitable spirit and sacrifice of women in military history. Awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre for her valiant service, Noor remains a symbol of courage, resilience, and the fight for freedom.

To learn more, please read the full blogpost here.

Thank you to Alie Salford, Programme Lead for Head Start Psychological Therapies at Walking With The Wounded. Alie’s work ensures high-quality, evidence-based care for the British ex-armed forces community, addressing their unique psychological wellbeing and employment needs. With over 20 years of experience in mental health and psychological interventions, she brings a wealth of expertise whilst undertaking clinical work with the Trusted Relationship Project and advisory positions with the Veterans Advisory & Pensions Committee and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

An international perspective: From Canada

In Canada, the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (AVCA) has completed their ‘Experience of Women Veterans’ Study which will make history on 12 June when it is the first comprehensive report on the experience of women veterans is tabled in the House of Commons. It is hoped their report will serve as a catalyst for positive change for all those women who have served – past and present.

The Minister of Veterans Affairs is presently creating a “Women Veteran Council” (WVC) to advise her on matters such as how to best prioritize and execute the recommendations from this and other parliamentary reports. It is anticipated that the WVC will be functional by September 2024.

You can read more about their work here.

Get involved in research

We have set up a new webpage hosting calls for participants in research relating to female veterans. Click on the screenshot below to reach our webpage to learn more about these studies and how you can get involved….