At Veterans In Action (VIA), we’ve always been known for our hands-on approach – the Land Rover builds, expeditions, and active projects that help veterans rediscover their purpose and build resilience. What we haven’t spoken about as much is the welfare support that runs alongside these projects, yet it forms the bedrock of everything we do. Today, it’s time to share the full picture of how VIA creates lasting change in veterans’ lives.
We don’t advertise our welfare work because we’re not a handout charity. We’ve always maintained that philosophy – veterans don’t come to us just to get their benefits sorted and disappear. Instead, they engage with our projects and show commitment to their own recovery. But here’s the truth: without addressing the immediate welfare needs that surround PTSD and trauma, no amount of project work will create sustainable growth.
Think of it like building a house. You can have the most beautiful structure, the finest materials, and skilled craftsmen, but if the foundations are unstable, the entire building will eventually collapse. PTSD rarely exists in isolation – it’s surrounded by housing problems, mounting debt, benefit confusion, family pressures, and a loss of direction. These aren’t just inconveniences; they’re active barriers to recovery.
Over the past two years, VIA has helped veterans secure approximately £6 million in welfare outcomes. This isn’t money we’ve handed out – it’s legitimate support that veterans were entitled to but couldn’t access on their own. Every pound represents stress lifted, stability restored, and a foundation laid for genuine growth.
From the moment a veteran makes that first phone call to VIA, our approach is different. There’s no passing them around from department to department, no referrals to other organisations. Our team works directly with each veteran, taking ownership of their welfare needs from start to finish.
The support covers every aspect of the welfare system that veterans might encounter: Universal Credit applications, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments, Armed Forces Compensation claims, pension enquiries, and comprehensive debt advice and representation. When appeals are necessary, our team members will represent veterans at tribunals, removing the stress and confusion that often overwhelms people navigating these complex systems alone.
This isn’t about filling in forms and walking away. It’s about understanding that a veteran struggling with severe anxiety might freeze when faced with a 20-page PIP application, or that someone dealing with PTSD flashbacks can’t concentrate long enough to understand their Universal Credit statement. Our team sits with them, works through each section, and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
What makes VIA’s welfare support unique is how it integrates with our long-term projects. While veterans are stripping down a Land Rover engine or learning new skills in our workshop, welfare issues are being addressed in parallel. The projects create the perfect environment for this work – they provide routine, purpose, and peer support whilst the underlying problems are systematically resolved.
The Land Rover builds, for instance, can run between a year and eighteen months depending on the complexity of the build. During this time, veterans are working alongside their peers, rebuilding confidence and rediscovering skills they thought they’d lost. Meanwhile, our welfare team is ensuring their housing situation is stable, their benefits are correctly assessed, and any debt issues are being managed. It’s a holistic approach that addresses both the symptoms and the root causes of distress.
Veterans often arrive at VIA in crisis – perhaps they’ve received an eviction notice, had their benefits stopped, or are drowning in debt accumulated during the darkest periods of their mental health struggles. The immediate welfare support provides breathing space, whilst the project work begins the longer journey of rebuilding purpose and resilience.
There’s substantial research showing that veterans seeking mental health support often face multiple, interconnected challenges. The stress of financial instability, housing insecurity, and bureaucratic battles can actively worsen PTSD symptoms, creating a vicious cycle that’s difficult to break without comprehensive support.
Consider a veteran with severe PTSD who’s also facing eviction. Traditional mental health support might address the trauma symptoms, but if they’re made homeless during treatment, any progress made becomes meaningless. VIA’s approach recognises that sustainable recovery requires stable foundations – secure housing, adequate income, and freedom from the constant stress of financial crisis.
The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, for example, can provide substantial ongoing payments to veterans with service-related injuries, but the application process is complex and often overwhelming. Many veterans entitled to support simply don’t know where to start or become discouraged by initial rejections. VIA’s welfare team has the expertise to navigate these systems effectively, ensuring veterans receive the support they’ve earned through their service.
When welfare foundations are properly established, the impact extends far beyond the individual veteran. Families experience reduced stress when financial stability is restored. Children benefit when their parent isn’t consumed by anxiety about mounting bills. Partners can focus on supporting their loved one’s recovery rather than fighting constant bureaucratic battles.
The evidence supports this approach. Research into veteran support services consistently shows that addressing complex, interconnected needs produces better outcomes than focusing on single issues in isolation. When basic welfare needs are met, veterans can fully engage with therapeutic and development opportunities.
One reason we haven’t promoted our welfare work is the stigma often attached to benefit claims and financial support. Many veterans, particularly those from combat backgrounds, struggle with asking for help of any kind. The idea of claiming benefits can feel like admitting defeat or appearing weak.
VIA’s approach breaks down this stigma by framing welfare support as removing barriers to growth rather than providing handouts. We explain to veterans that the Land Rover they’re rebuilding won’t run properly if the engine oil is contaminated – similarly, their personal recovery won’t progress effectively if they’re constantly stressed about basic survival needs.
The welfare support isn’t charity; it’s ensuring veterans can access support they’ve earned through their service and are legally entitled to receive. When presented this way, most veterans recognise the practical wisdom of getting these foundations right before focusing on longer-term development.
VIA’s welfare support extends beyond benefit applications. Debt advice and representation helps veterans who may have accumulated significant financial problems during periods of poor mental health. Housing support ensures stable accommodation – crucial for anyone dealing with trauma-related sleep disturbances or anxiety.
The team also provides practical help with form-filling, appointment attendance, and ongoing case management. For veterans dealing with cognitive difficulties related to their mental health, this practical support can be the difference between successfully accessing help and falling through gaps in the system.
The £6 million in welfare outcomes VIA has secured represents more than money – it represents lives stabilised, families supported, and futures made possible. Each successful benefit claim, resolved debt situation, or secured housing arrangement creates space for a veteran to engage fully with their recovery and development.
Veterans who might otherwise have remained trapped in cycles of financial stress and deteriorating mental health have instead been able to participate fully in VIA’s projects. They’ve rebuilt Land Rovers, learned new skills, formed lasting friendships with peers, and rediscovered a sense of purpose and capability.
VIA is not a handout charity, and welfare support is not our primary offering. We remain, first and foremost, an active charity focused on helping veterans grow through meaningful projects and expeditions. But we now recognise that promoting this work openly is essential – not to attract people seeking quick fixes, but to demonstrate the comprehensive approach necessary for sustainable recovery.
The welfare work is the groundwork that makes everything else possible. The projects are the build that creates lasting change. Together, they create strong, resilient veterans with genuine foundations for their future.
Every veteran who walks through VIA’s doors brings their own unique combination of challenges and potential. Our job is to ensure that practical barriers don’t prevent them from discovering what they’re truly capable of achieving. By addressing welfare needs as integral foundations rather than separate issues, we create the conditions where genuine growth and resilience can flourish.
The house-building metaphor remains apt: get the foundations right, and everything else becomes possible. That’s why welfare at VIA isn’t separate from our projects – it’s what makes our projects work.
I needed focus I needed something to fill my time, well maybe not fill my time but something to focus on like a target, a needed to get back my drive.
I started to help VIA ‘Veterans In Action’ and found something that I could do, use the old skills that I learnt in the army and more since I left which I did not register I had.
I had been missing that motivation to do something that I wanted to do and gain that level of self-gratification and achievement.
Everybody has a skill set, but it’s the motivation to use it we can lose, VIA have various projects on the go all the time, hopefully I have found my niche to help them and myself to gain personal gratification by being a member of a team again and a job well done.
After discussions I realised that it’s this which advances my mental well-being and my ongoing fight against depression and the feeling of worthlessness.
I have woken up, helping hand in hand with fellow soldiers suffering from labelled disorders finding strength from weakness, realising what helps them generally does helps me, the recognition has been an awakening.”
Ian ‘Chalky’ White former 17th/21st Lancers and B Sqn 22 SAS
Veterans In Action have been filming our expeditions for many years for our YouTube Channel, Veterans Expeditions Overland, and through this experience of not only running the expeditions but also capturing footage that enables veterans who have taken part in a place of reference to recapture how they felt by taking part.
The Veterans In Focus project enables veterans to learn new skills and record not only the expeditions we run but also the day-to-day work on all projects connecting them all together so everyone feels involved in all aspects of the work we do.
VIA take a long-term approach to helping veterans who suffer to enable them to grow within a project working alongside their peers. All this can be achieved within this project which can be ongoing and would allow veterans to learn new skills or to pass on skills learned during their time in the services
Some of the outcomes of the project are a sense of purpose, regaining confidence and working in an environment alongside other veterans where they can instantly feel relaxed, chilled-out, secure, and safe.
Veterans can work at their own pace, stop thinking negatively, concentrate, learn new skills, be part of building something, and most importantly where problems are understood this will positively impact mood and stress levels.
For those involved in the project, they can also get involved on an expedition HERE
I became involved with VIA in 2010 after my life took a turn for the worse and was invited along to do some fundraising with them. This helped me no end and in time my life got back on track. I completed a Union Flag Walk with them from Cape Wrath to Land’s End which again helped as walking and talking with other veterans with similar stories was a great help in understanding how I was feeling. I gained control of my life again.
In 2019, I took part in an overland expedition travelling through the Spanish Pyrenees and whilst away my life took a turn for the worse again due to family problems back in the UK. On my return I had to start again and rebuild and focus on the future and with the help of Veterans In Action I got back on track and took control.
I now own and run my own courier business.
Mark Colman former Royal Engineers
To date, we have travelled 25,000 miles travelling through 30 different countries and some of them several times both on overland expeditions for humanitarian aid through the pandemic and more recently supplying medical humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
It is important to note that to take part in one of our overland expeditions we insist that veterans get involved in the BUILD IT part of the project. The reason for this is part of the Post Traumatic Growth process which is our method for helping veterans so that veterans can grow within a team of their peers, learning new skills and relearning old skill sets that may have been forgotten after service.
Leading up to an expedition involves expedition training which will include off-road driving, navigation, camp setups, camp cooking and daily maintenance, something most veterans will understand from their time in the services.
It would be unfair for any individual to turn up on the day of an expedition who hadn’t previously been involved as everyone else would have been working together over a long period of time so due to the very nature of the mental health problems of those we take out on expedition turning up on day 1 for any individual could become very difficult to find where they fit in no matter how welcoming everyone was.
It is the involvement long-term on building the vehicles that enable veterans to grow that gets them to a place where they fully enjoy all aspects of the expedition experience starting from the minute that an overland expedition sets off.