A new campaign has been launched to improve access to life-changing support for ex-servicewomen.

Help for Heroes’ first ‘Help for Her’ campaign is designed to tackle the unique challenges women face when transitioning from military to civilian life.

New insights reveal that many former servicewomen do not identify with the term ‘veteran’ due to unresolved trauma, stigma, fear, loss of trust and shame.

Women also face a significantly higher rate of medical discharge than men across all military services and are at greater risk of injury.

This International Women’s Day, Help for Heroes is continuing to pressure the Government to urgently commission an independent review of the military medical discharge process.

Insights and data also reveal that:

• 67% of women currently serving experienced at least one sexualised behaviour in the last 12 months compared to 34% of males(1).

• Uniforms are not fit for purpose - research shows that 85% of female recruits, experience breast health issues relating to inadequate breast support or poor bra fitting(2).

• 30% of ex-servicewomen are classed as disabled(3).

• 9.4% of ex-servicewomen are experiencing bad or very bad health(4).

• According to Help for Heroes’ Veterans and Family Needs Survey (2025) almost 60% of women who served said they did not feel prepared to leave due to not having a new job lined up (60% n = 49 women out of 72)(5).

• In an increasingly dangerous and uncertain world, there is growing recognition that we need our Armed Forces now more than ever. In March 2025(6) 11.9% of UK serving personnel were female and to increase the number of troops, the Ministry of Defence has ambitions for women to account for 30% of military recruits by 2030(7).

Megan Lloyd joined the Army at 16, and by the time she was 24, she’d served in Northern Ireland and completed three tours of Afghanistan.

Shortly after being commissioned, she was seriously injured in a military training trial, resulting in a series of surgeries to reconstruct her hip. During the final surgery in 2022, the nerves in her right leg were damaged, resulting in a neuropathy, or ‘foot drop.’ As a result, Megan was medically retired in January 2023. Following two years employed as a caseworker for MP Damian Hinds, she recently landed her dream job as an RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer.

She said: “When you're in the military, it is your life. And when you're not, you feel bereft. It can be very isolating and overwhelming. I struggled to walk and drive, which affected my employment prospects severely. I was not physically ready to go back to work. I was forced to buy a house quickly in an area that I did not know well, to keep my son in school, but it needed a lot of adaptations by the MoD, and they took a long, long time. I’d never been unemployed before. I went from being an officer, to what felt like a prisoner in a house that was unsuitable and stressful to live in. I was in a lot of pain. I was medically retired so quickly that I did no resettlement, not even a CV workshop. The employment I always thought I would go into post-service was now closed to me.

“I looked around for support, which is how I found Help for Heroes. The team took a holistic approach by tackling several issues, which helped me thrive again. Help for Heroes has a bespoke knowledge of broken people.”

Megan, 41, from Surrey, added: “Many former servicewomen do not identify as a veteran for lots of reasons – they may have had to get out when they had children, and so they don’t think they count. Others have guilt around the role they played if they didn’t serve very long due to injury or mental health issues. I look back to the early 2000s, and how poor behaviour towards female service personnel was normalised – behaviour that people would go to prison for now. There was a culture of ‘what happens in the mess stays in the mess’. Personally, I was followed home from social events, and on several occasions, men came into my room in the middle of the night. The vigilance that servicewomen develop from scenarios like these stays with them forever.”

At Help for Heroes, 75% of the leading military charity’s employees are women, and out of the total number of staff who have served their country, 53% are female.

The Charity has launched a new web page aimed at ex-servicewomen, developed a new leaflet targeting women who have served which are being sent out in information packs to GPs and hospitals nationwide. There is also going to be a women-only Community Sports Series event, providing taster sports in a safe-space environment at the end of March.

Julie-Anne Fulford is a Very Seriously Injured (VSI) complex case manager at Help for Heroes providing bespoke support for veterans living with catastrophic injuries including traumatic brain injury, multiple limb loss, sight loss, paralysis and serious mental health conditions.

“The Help for Her campaign is aimed at every woman who wore the uniform, we understand that their military experiences are all different and unique,” said Julie-Anne, 38, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, who served in the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps for 16 years, completing two tours of Afghanistan and was deployed to Sierra Leone during the deadly Ebola outbreak.

“Giving a voice to women who’ve served, and their loved ones, is important because for so long, women’s service and its impact have been minimised, overlooked, or treated as an afterthought. Women have always served, often in complex roles, while also carrying huge emotional labour - as leaders, clinicians, partners, mothers, and carers. Too many women I meet still feel they must justify their pain or explain why they’re ‘entitled’ to support.”

She added: “Giving women a voice is about validating their experiences, challenging outdated narratives about what a veteran looks like, and ensuring no one feels invisible or alone.”

To find out more visit: Support for ex-service women | Help For Heroes: {https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/get-help/ex-service-women/{

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Link to Case study content – images, biographies and quotes: [https://tinyurl.com/4xp4fxas]

(1) Armed Forces Sexualised Behaviours and Sexual Harassment Survey, (2025), GOV.UK URL: Armed Forces Sexualised Behaviours and Sexual Harassment Survey - GOV.UK [https://tinyurl.com/3n92hyxd]

(2) (Army Recruit Health and Performance Research, 2022)

(3) Characteristics of UK armed forces veterans, England and Wales: Census 2021, (2023), Office for National Statistics URL:Characteristics of UK armed forces veterans, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics [https://tinyurl.com/492p6pmz]

(4) Characteristics of UK armed forces veterans, England and Wales: Census 2021, (2023), Office for National Statistics URL:Characteristics of UK armed forces veterans, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics [https://tinyurl.com/492p6pmz]

(5) Veteran and Families Survey, (2025), Help for Heroes

(6) Protecting those who protect us: Women in the Armed Forces from Recruitment to Civilian Life: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report, (2021), House of Commons Defence Committee URL: Protecting those who protect us: Women in the Armed Forces from Recruitment to Civilian Life: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report of Session 2021-22 [https://tinyurl.com/cbuxrnft]

(7) UK armed forces biannual diversity statistics: April 2025, (2025), Gov.uk URL: UK armed forces biannual diversity statistics: April 2025 - GOV.UK [https://tinyurl.com/8fc638yk]

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