FORCES VETERANS AFLOAT (FVA) provides an unusual recovery environment—it gives them a narrowboat!
That is entirely different from the normal hospital or clinic, Janet Friend reports.
Peace and quiet
Lizzie Lane, of the charity, explained:
"If you want a bit of peace and quiet, you just take your mooring pins up and go half a mile down the canal where there isn't anybody."
"It shocked me when I was going round the canals and rivers just how many veterans were camping on the banks.
"They are attracted to the peace and quiet, to that fundamental need to be by water.
"But here I was, with my boat and a home to go back to, and these people who had fought for their country, did not even have a roof over their heads."
The society was started four years ago, is now a registered charity, and has nine narrowboats with two more promised.
Revolutionised his prospects
Jay Saunders, a veteran who left the armed forces due to complex post-traumatic stress disorder, tells that the charity has revolutionised his prospects.
He was given a medical discharge after combating Ebola in Sierra Leone left him with complex PTSD. And after struggling with conventional accommodation he stumbled across FVA and was allocated the vessel Stingray eight months ago.
"I actually feel human again for the first time in eight years. This lifestyle is exactly what I need.
"My psychiatrist and psychotherapist cannot believe the amount of recovery I have gained by living this life.
"This life as a continuous cruiser on the canal network—I actually feel human again for the first time in eight years."
Sawley and Gunthorpe marinas
The society has been given free or reduced cost access to Sawley Marina (pictured) and Gunthorpe Marina on the Trent, with it hoping to build a bespoke facility in Erewash on the Erewash Canal.
Lizzie Lane adds:
"They tend to appeal to veterans because when you have been in the forces you spend a lot of your time moving around from posting to posting, you're not used to being in one place for any length of time, maybe even living under canvas.
"And it can be really difficult to settle in bricks and mortar in one place.
"So being in a narrowboat is a bit like being a snail—you can take your home with you.
"So if you want to go to a different part of the country, or something is triggering PTSD you can move away from that."
Lizzie Lane, remarks she was in the process of looking for a site for a permanent mooring and maintenance facility for Forces Veterans Afloat in Derbyshire, and hoped to have one confirmed.