I struggled to be in a room with more than two people without suffering a spurt of hypervigilance and anxiety”
Suffering from complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and struggling to connect with people in the easy way that had always been so natural to him, Paul – a former senior NCO with the Royal Marines– was finding it tough to fit back into society after leaving the Corps.
RMA – The Royal Marines Charity sees many Royal Marines like Paul; and many like him have hugely benefitted from being funded by the Charity to attend one of HBUK’s personal development programmes at Aboyne in Scotland.
Using horsemanship and outdoor activities, the programmes encourage participants to acquire new coping strategies and life skills. Their programmes work to build lasting resilience by helping increase confidence and self-esteem. They aid veterans to take positives steps towards continuing physical and/or psychological recovery, and to once again feel a confident sense of belonging.
“I was extremely anxious about taking the trip to Aboyne and struggled at the start,” says Paul. “But I learned a lot about myself and the things that I needed to work on to fit back into society after leaving service.
At the same time as learning how to manage my condition through the magic of horses, I set out some goals that I wanted to achieve back home.
Being around the horses was very therapeutic and did wonders for my confidence. By the end of the course, I was a completely different person. My confidence levels had soared.
The HBUK team helped me re-establish my people and leadership skills which I had lost from suffering with complex PTSD anxiety and depression due to my military service.
I have continued to use these skills back home in my day-to-day activities and they have proved to be very successful in helping me to manage PTSD.
I am thankful and forever in debt to RMA – The Royal Marines Charity and HorseBack UK (HBUK) for giving me the opportunity to change my life for the better.”