Free help for ex-servicemen and women

Free help for ex-servicemen and women

Press release: Life Works


Life Works, one of the UK’s leading private treatment centres for drug and alcohol abuse, is offering “scholarship” places to ex-servicemen and women in need of help. 
Don Serratt, founder of Life Works, said:
“We are offering a number of places at the Life Works treatment centre to ex-combat personnel who have developed drug or alcohol problems.  These people have risked their lives for us.  We now have a strong desire to do something for them in return.  
“Those who sustain visible, physical damage are in obvious need of help.  But there is another type of damage inflicted by war – the type that is ignored because it is not instantly evident and because of the social stigma attached to it.   
“Untreated addiction is the hidden cost of war.  While we can count missing limbs and measure scar tissue, it is hard to instantly quantify the consequences of destroyed marriages, parent-child relationships, job opportunities and quality of life. 
“Currently there is little or no provision for returning combat veterans with addiction issues. These people cannot be simply given a leaflet and sent home.  They need specialist, sometimes prolonged, help.  Without it, they are a ticking time bomb.  Although treatment does mean spending resources, there is a great deal of evidence to show that failing to treat alcoholism and addiction in ex-servicemen and women is ultimately even more costly.  Early treatment relieves harm and cost to society in the long run.
 “We have come across cases where traumatised young people, who developed problems with drugs and alcohol, were simply discharged and set free to cope with “normal” life when, without help, they were extremely unlikely to be able to cope at all. ”
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Saad Al-Khalaf of Life Works said:
“Alcoholism and drug addiction are in themselves very serious illnesses that can have devastating effects on the sufferer and those around him or her.  But it is hard to imagine a more toxic brew than PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) with the alcoholic or addicted individual. 
“Those who do not receive the appropriate help are likely to experience psychiatric and physical problems.  If these are left to fester, by the time old age is reached, if it is reached, the patient will be damaged perhaps beyond repair.”
Life Works clinical consultant, author and internationally recognized expert on substance abuse, mental health, violence and crime, Terence T. Gorski, said:
“You’ve got to treat any addiction or alcoholism before you treat trauma. Those in active addiction do not respond to the direct treatment of PTSD, because of the anaesthetic effects of the drugs.  It is essential to deal with the addiction first.  Once that has been successfully addressed, you can move on to processing and, ultimately, healing the trauma.”

How the scheme will work

Doctors nationwide are being invited to refer patients to the scholarship scheme
In addition, approaches from family members and therapists will be considered
The places are allocated to EX COMBAT personnel who are struggling with alcoholism and addiction
£300,000 worth of places are allocated to the scheme
Treatment will be commensurate with that given to private patients

About the Life Works programme
Life Works is a leading provider of private alcohol addiction treatment. Based in the heart of the Surrey countryside, the treatment centre provides a tranquil, private and safe environment for rehabilitation.
Clinical experts at Life Works take an integrated approach to addiction treatment drawing on evidence-based research while assessing the whole person. Life Works offers drug and alcohol detox and an opportunity to restore physical as well as mental wellbeing. Patients are helped to address the underlying causes of their behaviours, to come to terms with their illness and to devise healthy strategies for coping once they leave. The programme includes a comprehensive medical component.
Don Serratt on substance abuse and ex-service personnel
“Coming from Texas, I grew up with the spectre of Vietnam vet pan-handlers, drunk or messed up on heroin, on every corner.  It always struck me what a terrible thing it was that no one seemed to care about the men that had been to war and I understood why they needed to drink or use drugs to dull the pain of their experiences in war and subsequent abandonment. 
“Later in my life, I developed drug addiction and alcoholism and was lucky to get the help I needed to get clean and sober.  After years of sobriety, I founded Life Works to help others.  With this scheme we, as an independent treatment provider, very much want to give something back to those who have given so much.” 

Ex-combat veterans with alcohol or drug addiction problems who would like to apply for a Life Works scholarship please contact the centre through www.lifeworkscommunity.com

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