Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service

Op COURAGE is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help serving personnel due to leave the military, reservists, veterans and their families.

Developed by veterans, for veterans, Op COURAGE is available across England and since 2017, has helped nearly 30,000 people. Op COURAGE has previously been known as the Veterans Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS).

EPUT works closely with Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and charity partners St Andrew’s Healthcare, Mental Health Matters, Walking With The Wounded and The Warrior Programme to deliver Op COURAGE across the East of England Region (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire).

For information on Op COURAGE in other regions across England, please visit the NHS website.

Op COURAGE supports armed forces personnel who are approaching discharge, as well as veterans. It supports people of any age who have served in any of the armed forces (including reservists) at any time, for any duration.

Our team includes trained professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists and social workers. Each member of the team has either a military background or experience working with the armed forces community. We understand military life and the courage it takes to speak with someone.

Our service can help you and your family with a range of support and treatment, including:

• helping you recognise and treat early signs of mental health problems, as well as more advanced mental health conditions and psychological trauma
• helping you tackle some of the most common mental health and substance misuse problems such as alcoholism, anxiety and depression
• joining up with other NHS services that offer specialist support if needed, such as eating disorder services
• helping you address other concerns that may be affecting your health and wellbeing, such as employment, relationships, housing, finances, drug and alcohol misuse, social support
• supporting armed forces families affected by mental health problems
• supporting you with emergency care and treatment if you’re in a crisis

If you are about to leave the armed forces, we will work closely with Defence Medical Services (DMS) to provide mental health support and ensure a smooth transition.

To receive help and support from Op COURAGE, you must:

• be resident in England and have served in the UK armed forces for a full day
• be registered with a GP practice in England or be willing and eligible to register with a GP
• provide your military service number

It does not matter how long ago you left the forces. You can contact Op COURAGE even if you left many years ago.

You can also contact op COURAGE if you are still serving but have a discharge date.

There are several ways you can contact Op COURAGE in the East of England:

• directly getting in touch yourself
• asking a friend or family member to get in touch
• asking a GP to refer you
• asking a charity to refer you

You can contact us by telephone on 0300 034 9991

Or by email at mevs.mhm@nhs.net

Once you have been in touch, we will call you within 5 days to arrange an initial appointment. This will be held face-to-face or via telephone, within two weeks of us receiving your referral.