North Essex Veterans Support Group was founded by members of the local community in Mistley, Manningtree and Lawford.  These locals are predominantly ex-Forces personnel. The Group's name was amended to North Essex and Suffolk Veterans Support Group in August 2024 to reflect that fact that some events are held in Brantham (just over the border in Suffolk) and a number of members live in the county. 

Why the Group was formed

The Group was formed because there is a significant shortfall in any services for our Forces veterans in North Essex.  We aim to be all-inclusive and bring together civilians, serving and ex-serving forces personnel in the local community to form a support network to benefit all.

The Group also aims to assist in the education of members to understand PTSD and the impact it has on the family and wider community.  We aim to help members with PTSD access the various support on offer to help alleviate the symptoms. 
The Group will actively pursue various outdoor and indoor activities from canoeing to walking football, art to stamp collecting.  Whatever will interest and engage our members we will endeavour to make it happen. This will be accomplished by hosting a monthly Breakfast Club where people can meet up and chat in a social environment which is a more relaxed atmosphere which will help relationships to be formed and trust between members and the group as a whole.  This will enable anyone that may need assistance to be signposted to the correct service provider.  The Group will, through engaging with members, form a lasting bond of support that will enable us to help any member of our local forces community in need. 

Working with others

We launched the Veterans Support Group in June 2021 with the very first Veterans Breakfast which was attended by 18 veterans.  March 2022 saw 39 veterans and members of the community in attendance and by February 2023 we had 55 attending. We continue to grow month on month and now have over 80 members.  During our 2 years in operation we have assisted many veterans looking for help with various welfare needs with a positive outcome for them all.  Our work will adapt and grow with the demands of the Support Group and we have formed a great working relationship with many organisations offering  help to our veterans, one of which is Outside The Wire, an organisation offering help with PTSD which is compounded by drug and or alcohol addiction.  This organisation is part of the Matthew Project and with this partnership we have direct access to the various support and help options that they can offer our veterans.  We have a tremendous team working together for The Armed Forces Community here in North Essex.  

We sometimes may encounter a veteran who is on release from serving a prison sentence and with this in mind we have a working relationship with a member from Seetec.  As we move forward and continue to grow we will be increasing our coverage within the County of Essex; we will do this as we have always done with passion and pride.

Talking of pride we are now a recognised welfare provider and recently had our first national referral from the Royal British Legion call centre. This case was received and actioned with resolution all in the space of two hours with a very positive outcome for the veteran concerned.
Being recognised by the largest forces charity here in the UK is a huge achievement for NEVSG and we will strive to always achieve the best possible outcomes for our Veterans Community.