A boost in support for specific needs of service women
“Building confidence, finding work-life-balance, embracing authenticity.” Three priorities from just one of the projects receiving a share of more than £700,000 in funding from our dedicated programme to support service women.
It’s a programme which came from collaboration and consultation with service women themselves, shaped by their insights.
It supports a wide range of projects, providing both practical and holistic support for all sorts of aspects of women’s mental health and wellbeing and will reach both regular and reserve service women.
Our Grants Manager, Kerry Newham – who herself served seven years in the RAF – said: “We’re so proud to be delivering this programme to empower service women, offer lasting support and make sure that their voices are seen and heard. As the world marks International Women’s Day, these projects are a fantastic reminder of the huge opportunities to use the experiences, insights and expertise of service women to inform, shape and spread the support they want to see.”
Health and wellbeing support
Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS) will provide online counselling and confidential mental and physical health and wellbeing support for serving and reservist women that meets their distinct needs. Similarly, with a focus on women serving in the Royal Navy, the Royal Navy Recovery and Resilience Margins Headquarters will focus on supporting service women with issues such as postnatal depression, abortion, miscarriage and stillbirth. They’ll provide a nurturing space for healing with a focus on self-care and emotional recovery.
With a focus on the RAF serving community in Brize Norton, the Gateway to Women’s Health project will host briefing days, exercise programmes and a dedicated app, specifically for service women and covering the full spectrum of women’s health topics.
Some projects will focus their support on more defined issues. Aurora New Dawn will provide a bespoke, confidential therapeutic support programme, helping 100 serving women serving recover from the traumatic consequences of domestic abuse, sexual violence, and/or stalking.
Hull FC Community Foundation are adopting a prevention approach with their Unite project, with co-created activities delivered through a mixture of one-to-one and whole family means to help tackle loneliness and isolation and improve resilience.
Driving positive change for Servicewomen
Others focus on bringing service women together to create collaborative networks. The RAF Association will develop a peer-to-peer wellbeing network to support 200 women currently serving in the RAF via a programme of interactive, informative and inspirational webinars. They’ll develop this online community to strengthen resilience and alleviate stressors uniquely experienced by service women.
The Women’s Wellbeing Network will provide a space to connect with others in their community, share experiences, and exchange ideas. Each session is designed to provide valuable insights and guidance on a range of topics and demographics.
Carola Becker, Head of Wellbeing at the RAF Association, said: “Our research shows women in the RAF face specific challenges in a male-dominated environment. We wanted to create a valuable space for women to come together, find their tribe through regular peer support and make lasting connections.
“Our Network will bring together expert insights on what matters most to women: building confidence, finding work-life-balance, embracing authenticity.”
Valuable career support
Some projects are seeking to enable service women to reach their career potential; including The Warrior Programme, who will work with service women to inspire those around them and drive necessary changes to make service life more conducive for women. While the Forces Employment charity will seek to ensure that service women are ‘equally valued, equally qualified and equally served’ as their male counterparts.
Find out more
A full list of awardees is available here.
Read the The Women’s Wellbeing Network blog here
The Service Women: Seen and Heard programme will open again for applications later this year. Once again, we have consulted with service women across all three services to ensure the programme tackles the most prevalent needs and issues.
More details will be available soon. In the meantime, we encourage you to find out more about the projects funded under this programme so far.