Service personnel need more mental health support

A new study into the suicides of military veterans has found much more mental health support is needed for those in the armed forces.

The One Is Too Many project, a research initiative carried out by The Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families Research at Northumbria University, interviewed hundreds of families who described disjointed, overstretched and inconsistent mental health services as well as a lack of understanding of military life and personnel.

The study, said to be the first of its kind, concluded an urgent review of the mental health support for veterans was needed.

Researchers said the aim of the study was not to apportion blame, but to find out why veterans were slipping through the net, and help to create a "safety blanket" instead to protect them.