RMA-RMC-Impact-Report-2023-24 - Flipbook - Page 7
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Funders’ focus
In 2022, RMA – The Royal Marines
Charity’s ‘Lifting the Lid’ mental
health campaign continued with
funding from the Armed Forces
Covenant Fund Trust’s (AFCFT)
‘One is Too Many’ programme,
in conjunction with several other
funders. The most notable of
these was a two-year £160,000
award from the National Lottery’s
Community Fund (Big Lottery Reaching
Communities England), allowing
the programme to continue after
the AFCFT’s own two-year funding
programme ended in March 2023.
One is Too Many
Its online presence was boosted
during Mental Health Awareness
Week in May (94,013 unique views)
and World Suicide Prevention Day in
September (52,659 unique views).
What you see of someone on the outside
is not necessarily
what they are feeling
on the inside.
Equipping practitioners and volunteers
to understand the unique characteristics
of both serving and veteran Royal
Marines, and identify their support
needs, remained a priority.
‘Lifting the Lid’ has helped to break
down barriers by suggesting there is
strength, not weakness, in seeking help
from others; that asking for support
should be applauded not stigmatised.
As part of our volunteer support
network development, we trained a
further 23 volunteers to be peer support
workers. We are now privileged to have
a fully trained 56-strong team that
covers the UK, being the eyes and ears
of the Health & Wellbeing team and
supporting and signposting the most
vulnerable members of our RM family.
With the aim of encouraging
healthy behaviours, mental fitness
and promote earlier help-seeking
behaviour, a series of short videos
was created with the over-arching
message: ‘What you see of someone
on the outside is not necessarily
what they are feeling on the inside’.
The Charity hosted a Suicide
Awareness Symposium in September
2022 with the theme: ‘One is Too Many
— Complete the Jigsaw’. This brought
collaborative partnerships together for
the first time to encourage the sharing
of best practice and included over 50
mental health specialists, volunteers,
NHS, Chain of Command and partner
organisations such as SSAFA (The
Armed Forces Charity), Walking with
the Wounded, Help for Heroes,
Samaritans and Zero Suicide Alliance.
The social media campaign around
‘Lifting the Lid’ was immensely
powerful with calls to action
referrals, training, and general
advice reaching 695,383 social
media accounts throughout 2022.
Targeted communication concentrated
on the main messages of stigma
reduction and encouraging helpseeking behaviours. It also addressed
the pursuit of healthy lifestyles with
a ‘Hoofing Hints’ banner and posters
written in language to resonate with
the audience, ‘hoofing’ being Royal
Marines’ slang for ‘good or excellent’.
Watch our
‘Lifting the Lid’
campaign video
The Charity’s Health & Wellbeing
and Development teams continue to
constantly review the needs of ‘Lifting
the Lid’ with treatment pathways,
Veterans Referral Plan, coaching,
and detox remaining the costliest
elements of our work; and, as part
of the AFCFT’s ‘One is Too Many’
programme, are capturing and collating
data for an evaluation being carried
out by the University of Chester.
Our thanks to the following funders
who also made important contributions
to ‘Lifting the Lid’ in 2022 — the
Hollyhock Charitable Trust, John
Horseman Trust, Open Community
Grant — Spark Somerset and Queen
Mary’s Roehampton Trust.
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