History of Combat Stress.org
(source)

We were founded in May 1919, just after the First World War. The charity's original name was the Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Society. This subsequently changed to the Ex-Services Welfare Society and then again to the Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society. Today we are better known as Combat Stress.

When the charity formed, it was ahead of its time. The prevailing attitude to mental welfare was, by today's standards, primitive, even barbaric.

Those who suffered from mental breakdown during their Service life received little or no sympathy. Indeed, during the First World War, if it led to failure to obey orders, death by firing squad was always a possibility.

At the end of the War there were thousands of men returning from the front and from sea suffering from shell-shock. Many were confined in Mental War Hospitals under Martial Law – with the risk of being sent on, without appeal, to asylums.

But our view was that these men could be helped to cope with their condition through a rehabilitation programme. Work was essential to masculine identity; many doctors believed that work was excellent therapy; and work also provided men with financial security. And so, for many years, Combat Stress ran employment schemes that created real work opportunities for Veterans.

Combat Stress today

Much has changed over the years. Today there is a far better understanding that psychological wounding is an occupational hazard of Service life – and the Service men and women who react to the traumatic events they have experienced with some form of stress are suffering a perfectly normal response. They have no reason to be ashamed.

Since 1919, Combat Stress has helped almost 100,000 Veterans cope with their suffering. With 4,000 active cases under our care today – many diagnosed with chronic conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – we are very busy. To help our Veterans rebuild their lives, we provide:

* A nationwide community outreach service

* Access to specialist clinical treatment at one of our short-stay residential centres in Ayrshire, Shropshire and Surrey.