00:00Medway Council has hosted its first Veterans Wellbeing Fair here at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham.
00:10This event aims to provide mental, physical, financial and social help for veterans serving personnel and their families.
00:22As many people know, the reason Medway is my home is because my dad served in the Royal Navy,
00:27so I was part of an Armed Forces family, and those stresses and pressures are real and genuine.
00:33So I think it's about, you know, days like today, of course the wellness and well-being factors are focused
00:38on veterans,
00:39but of course many of those things are available for people who aren't veterans,
00:43who are perhaps part of the existing Armed Forces or indeed part of the wider community here in Medway.
00:49So hopefully, after this, wonderful event, it will travel to shopping malls, village halls, maybe working institute groups,
01:01all across Kent all going well.
01:04So this is literally the genesis of something which is going to grow.
01:09The fair has taken place on World Mental Health Day, which is about sharing lived experiences of mental conditions,
01:18and there's plenty here to help visitors with that.
01:22Many of the organisations here at this Veterans Wellbeing Fair even offer new activities and hobbies
01:29for veterans and current servicemen to enjoy, one of them being model making.
01:36Meeting the lads was a lifesaver, because it brought me out of myself.
01:43I live on my own, and I was going through a bad patch, but meeting these boys on a Friday,
01:50it's brilliant.
01:52There's quite a few backstories for a lot of the, you know, the people in the club and that.
01:57Yeah, they've suffered stress and all that sort of thing, and so it helps sometimes for them to be able
02:03to talk to like-minded people.
02:05In other words, other veterans, etc.
02:08Events like this go a long way in helping people open up about their mental health challenges,
02:15one conversation at a time.
02:18Henry Luck, for KNTV, in Chatham.
