Neil Shearer

Why I am doing this.

I found myself having to reach out to Combat Stress in the November of 2023 nearly 28 years after leaving the Army in 1996 on completion of 13 years service in the Royal Artillery.

PTSD first raised its head for me around 3 years ago whilst experiencing extremely stressful times at work, this caused all kinds of flashbacks for me from my military service, to be honest, I thought I had come to terms with all that, plus having private counselling at the time I thought I was ok. I recently realised that that form of counselling wasn’t the right thing, plus there was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. With all that and with more stress at work I felt the need to reach out to the specialists who understand veterans and their experiences that they go through.

After many weekly online chats, then completing 2 weeks of intensive therapy, I now feel I have much more of an understanding and I’m able to cope better with PTSD. It’s no quick fix, as I’m still a work in progress, but I’m in a much better place thanks to the help, care, understanding & continued support from all the team at combat stress to which I cannot thank enough and my family & friends.

One way for me to say thank you is to try raise some vital funds to help other veterans going through the process with Combat Stress and to help raise awareness for veterans mental health. The 36km walk for Combat Stresses Race to Remember is a good challenge for me and an ideal way for me to do this.

If you choose to make a donation, I know it will be greatly appreciated and it will be doing so much good to help other veterans.

Thanks for your support, it’s very much appreciated.

Support my Race to Remember

This year I will be taking part in Race to Remember to raise vital funds for life-changing mental health treatment for veterans.

Combat Stress is the UK's leading charity for veterans' mental health. For over a century, they've helped former servicemen and women deal with issues like trauma, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Today, they provide support to veterans from every service and every conflict.

I’m taking on Race to Remember to help take vital steps towards ensuring veterans can get the support they need.

Thank you so much for your support.