A living archive project in collaboration with Age Exchange
In 2019 Age Exchange partnered with the UK’s leading military mental health charity Combat Stress to help it mark its centenary through designing and co-delivering a high profile creative programme to raise awareness of the charity’s work, and the lives of the veterans and their families it supports. In making the film Age Exchange trained a small team of veteran volunteers in film making, interview technique and sound recording. This brilliant team of veterans came to Combat Stress’ three treatment centres to receive their training and then travelled with Age Exchange around the UK to carry out interviews with 73 veterans, their family members, and Combat Stress therapists and clinical staff. The interview questions were designed by a specialist project Steering Group comprising of veterans, Combat Stress staff and Age Exchange project leads. The questions cover four key areas of veteran’s experience: enlisting and basic training, combat experience, diagnosis and treatment for PTSD or other mental health conditions, and the impact of living with a mental health condition on themselves and their families. The veterans showed immense courage in making this film. They made it to help others like them and to further destigmatise mental illness in British society.
Please be aware that the film carries a trigger warning as it deals with painful experiences of combat and mental ill health and should not be viewed by those under 16 years of age.
To find out more about the other elements of the centenary programme including: the podcast series, online learning resource for schools, the centenary publication, and the story of the project please click here.
Age Exchange entered “Combat Stress 100” for the Charity Film Awards and we are through to the final voting rounds.
Please do vote for the veterans' film by hitting the link below. It's easy.
The film is a remarkable piece of work and a tribute to the immense courage of those who service in the military and who live with PTSD, and their families and the professionals at Combat Stress who support them.
