Armed Forces Conference - Presentations and Videos

Anna joined the Trust as Chief Executive in January 2022. She served as a logistics officer in the Royal Navy for 12 years, and on leaving, retrained as an Economics teacher and ‘followed the flag’. As a naval wife and mother, she understands the challenges and joys of the military lifestyle. Anna felt privileged to be an advocate for Royal Navy and Royal Marine families as CEO of the Naval Families Federation prior to taking up this role. She is now enjoying the opportunity to support the Armed Forces community through the exciting projects funded by the Trust.

Darren has worked with The Bridge for Heroes for over 14 years in a variety of roles. With a background spanning local government, education, IT support for private hospitals, and business improvement analysis, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the sector.

Alongside running his own business since 2006, Darren took on the VPPP Programme Management for the East region in 2022 and is now managing the Veterans Voice project as part of the Thrive Together programme. Darren has a strong committment and passion for supporting veterans within the East of England.

Kath served for over 20 years as a Royal Navy Officer, starting her career teaching maths to air engineers and finishing it by managing military personnel across the globe in MOD diplomatic appointments. On leaving she moved to the military charity sector, working in veterans’ mental health, welfare, wellbeing and employment support. Kath’s role involves working in the hospital and the community to connect veterans with the relevant support services and running community groups, drawing on her voluntary work with the RBL, the Royal Navy Association and the Women’s Royal Navy Service Benevolent Trust. Kath is also Suffolk representative on the Eastern Veterans Advisory Pension Committee, and in this role sits on the Suffolk Armed Forces Covenant Partnership Board.

As a veteran himself, having served 25 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Andrew has a wealth of experience and knowledge of our military communities.

As Commissioner, he represents the interests of the armed forces community on various boards and partnerships and leads the Board in the delivery of a shared action plan, which currently focuses on veterans and their families.

Kate has worked for Suffolk Family Carers for almost 7 years, having previously worked in the charity sector, predominantly within the mental health field.

Kate comes from an Armed Forces family; her father having served in the RAF and three of her grandparents in the army during WW2. Kate is also a family carer, so has personal experience of the challenges and impact of caring for a family member.

Kate says of her role, ‘It is an honour and privilege to work with and support serving Suffolk families, past and present.’ The experiences and feedback of our family carers are vital in helping us to develop the project and shape the support that we provide.

Sarah has worked for Suffolk Family Carers for 23 years, having qualified as a nurse and social worker prior to this.

Sarah has a particular interest in the health and well-being of family carers, influenced by the impact of family caring roles personally. Likewise, her interest in supporting the armed forces comes from, in particular, seeing the impact of deployment upon the wider family.

Op COURAGE is the NHS Veterans Mental Health Service, a national programme that supports Veterans, Service Leavers, and reservists with their mental health journey. Our event speaker is the Lead for the East of England region: a Mental Health Nurse and accredited Psychotherapist, with prior experience of working with the MOD’s Department of Community Mental Health.

Stephen is an RAF veteran, having served as an Air Traffic Controller, followed by various senior roles in the commercial sector in international financial services, a Senior Civil Servant role with HMT before moving to the NHS, holding senior roles across several NHS trusts in the region.

He is also vice chair of the East of England region Veterans Advisory Pension Committee (VAPC) and leads on health matters across the region. He also sits on the VAPC national Health & Social Care Common Interest Group, as well as a member of the Norfolk Armed Forces Covenant Board.

He has a part-time role at the Patient Safety Partner for Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust (NCH&C), where he ensures that the voice of the patient is heard, including those of veterans and serving families.

Diane is a multi-National Award-winning Nurse, Social Worker and Therapist with over 30 years’ experience in Health and Social care, with 21 years dedicated to pioneering specialist Military and Veterans mental health services for the MOD and NHS. Diane worked nationally for the MOD supporting those being medical discharged and set up the mental health provision at the Military Corrective Training Centre.

Diane founded the first joint MOD/NHS Network and dedicated NHS Veterans services in the East of England and has piloted numerous initiatives which have rolled out nationally. These include creating the first NHS contract with Walking with the Wounded, the first Veteran specific IPS Employment Support Service, and a range of social activities and interventions, football projects, multi-agency support groups, drug and alcohol support, physical health clinics, and initiated various projects, such as the Veterans Universal Passport and the Veterans Gambling Research Project.

Her expertise has been shared through her roles as Chair or Member of NHSE, NHS Trust, LA, ICB and Academic Advisory Boards and through her work on the MOD VAPC as the National Chair of the newly formed Health and wellbeing Group.

Diane was awarded the British Journal of Nursing National Nurse of the Year for her work during the pandemic, where she rapidly mobilised multiple Veterans Services and Occupational Trauma Services for frontline health and social care staff who were impacted by working through the pandemic.

Diane is now a Clinical Director for Keys Group and a Company Director for a newly formed Military and Veterans CIC.