Military Veterans' Service (MVS)
We are a specialist psychological therapies service, for British armed forces veterans across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. We are a locally commissioned service hosted by Pennine Care.
Our team is overseen by a consultant clinical psychologist and includes: Clinical psychologists, cognitive behavioural therapists, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) practitioners, cognitive analytic therapy therapists (CAT), psychological wellbeing practitioners, a substance misuse worker and employment placement support workers.
All of our team understand armed forces culture.
We appreciate that some veterans find it difficult to access support so, as a way to improve the service and build confidence, we ensure that a number of our staff are veterans themselves - or have family members in the forces.
We also work alongside a number of veterans who have been through our service to help us to continually improve the MVS.
We can support any ex-service personnel, if you are experiencing mental health difficulties related to your time in the military; if otherwise you've not had your needs met elsewhere and are prohibited from accessing mainstream services.
We offer a range of evidence-based treatments, for a number of difficulties that may have arisen from serving in the armed forces. This includes:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Post-traumatic stress symptoms
- Alcohol and substance issues
- Adjustment difficulties
- Anger problems
All referrals for the military veterans’ service are via Op COURAGE. Please contact Op COURAGE to make a self-referral, or professional referral on behalf of someone else.
Call: 0300 373 3332
Email: opcouragenorth@cntw.nhs.uk
This service is available 8am-8pm, seven days a week.
Whether you’re due to leave the armed forces, a reservist, or have already left the military, you can contact Op COURAGE to book an appointment.
You don’t have to go through your GP, however you can ask them or someone else to refer you.
It doesn’t matter how long you served for or when you left the armed forces, Op COURAGE is here to help.
Veterans' stories:
Paul, Wayne and Mark have shared their stories about how the Military Veterans' Service has supported them:
Military Veterans' Service - Wayne's story
Military Veterans' Service - Mark's story (video appointments)
We work closely with a range of statutory services and with a range of national and local charities. This partnership working supports engagement and relapse prevention.
For more information about this and other support in Manchester or Lancashire, please click the partnership working tab on our landing page.
Walking with the Wounded
We are in partnership with Walking with the Wounded and employ individual placement support workers in our team. These work alongside us to support veterans who have been in receipt of mental health treatment to get back into work. Walking with the Wounded website.
We have set up another page with frequently asked questions (FAQs) about our services, including:
- Can I get priority treatment?
- Can you give me a diagnosis?
- Can you provide financial help?
- Can I bring someone to my appointment?
- Suspected war crimes?
- Will you prescribe medication?
- Can I take part in research?
Image: UK MOD © Crown copyright 2019