Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group minutes: September 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Lynne Taylor (Chair), Principal Psychology Officer, Scottish Government
• Martin Bell, Health and Wellbeing Lead, Veterans Scotland
• Thelma Bowers, Head of Mental health, Addiction and Learning Disability services, NHS Ayrshire and Arran/North Ayrshire HSCP
• Alexis Chappell, Chief Officer, East Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership
• David Dent MBE, Vice President (Global Head of Integrated Strategy) Clinical Research, Board Advisor Help for Heroes, Trustee RBLI, Professor (Hon), former Army Nurse, Lecturer RDMC, and CISD practitioner and mental health 1st aider, war disabled veteran
• Lindsay Kirkwood, V1P Ayrshire and Arran Clinical Lead
• Linda McAuslan, Lead Nurse Psychological Therapies/Adult Psychological Therapies Manager, NHS Forth Valley
• Kari Magee, Veterans Link Scotland chair
• Gerri Matthews-Smith, Director of the Edinburgh Napier University Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement/Scottish Armed Forces Evidence and Research (SAFE&R) HUB
• Sonia Phythian, Head of Operations for Scotland, Combat Stress
• Robert Reid, Director of Services Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Military, Defence Medical Welfare Service
• Julie Thain-Smith, Head of Clinical Services, Help for Heroes
• Lindsey Restrick, Scottish Government
• Mark Fergusson, Scottish Government

Apologies:

• Jacqueline Berry, Allied Health Professionals/Occupational Therapy Lead, NHS Grampian
• Jennifer Borthwick, Director of Psychological Services and Head of Clinical Services, NHS Forth Valley
• Vicky Henderson, Aberdeenshire HSCP
• Linda Irvine Fitzpatrick, Strategic Lead, Scotland’s Veterans Wellbeing Alliance
• Jenny Pope, Deputy Director of Workforce, NHS Golden Jubilee
• Michelle Ramage, V1P Tayside Clinical Lead
• Tommy Watson, Walking with the Wounded
• Pauline Winchester - Midlothian Local Authority Armed Forces and Veterans Champion

Items and actions

Welcome and recap of June meeting

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, including new group member Sonia Phythian. The group confirmed that they were content with the minute of the previous meeting.

A question was raised regarding the sharing of the final draft of the national framework. The majority of the group intimated that they felt full involved in the drafting to date and that Scottish Government (SG) officials should move forward with the final version. It was confirmed that in the interests of transparency, officials will share with the group for awareness prior to submission to the Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing. Given the views of the group, and the confidence in shared development of the framework, the chair encouraged all group members to reassure all their representatives that they are fully in support of the framework progressing.

Short-life working group (SLWG) updates

The chair invited the SLWG chairs of each SLWG to talk through their respective reports, which had been circulated prior to the meeting and invite comment.

Peer support

The recommendation report was reviewed by the Veterans Link Scotland group before being finalised. A question was raised regarding if a regulatory body will cover third sector peer support workers. A group member made an offer of support to the co-chair to explore governance around this. 

Performance

A query was raised around the purpose of data being collected and the potential danger of ‘over assessing’ veterans.  The chair of the SLWG advised that research questions already being used in current evaluation had been brought together and that the purpose of the data is to help service providers deliver the best possible services.

Clarification was sought around if a veteran would receive feedback following their participation in any evaluation to demonstrate how the data has been used to make improvements. The advisory group will consider this point as plans for the pathway progress.

The chair of the SLWG confirmed that Royal College of Psychiatrists accreditation for third sector service delivery was aspirational rather than mandatory. The advisory group to discuss this point further as plans progress.

Digital hub

The co-chair of the SLWG advised that two sub groups are considering the digital hub requirements: one regarding technical issues and the other looking at development of an online referral form.

Action: Group members to provide written feedback on recommendations and updates to SG officials by September 22nd.

Standards and specification

As part of the papers for the meeting, the group were sent links to SG’s core mental health standards and psychological therapies and interventions specification and asked to consider how these can contribute to developing standards and specification specifically for veterans mental health. Due to time constraints, it was not possible to facilitate a full group discussion. This will be included as an agenda item for the meeting on 6th October.

Action:  Group members to provide written feedback to SG officials by September 22nd ahead of follow-up discussion at October meeting.

Any other business and date of the next meeting

To ensure that the group is aware of key activity, officials have been asked to prepare a project timeline.

Date of next meeting: 6th October 2025: 14:00 – 16:00