Military Matters – Understanding the Armed Forces Community
15th November 2023, 28th February 2024,15th May 2024 | 1 Day

Professor Matthew Kiernan entered academia as a mature student whilst serving in the Royal Navy. Originally qualifying as a RGN in Derby in 1991 he subsequently qualified as a RN (Mental Health) in 2001 with a BSC Med Sci from Sheffield University. He was awarded a PhD from Nottingham University in 2011.

Matthew was the Head of Mental Health Nursing in the Royal Navy, the Specialist Nurse Advisor for Mental Health (Royal Navy) and the Defence Specialist Nurse Advisor (Mental Health) prior to taking up his appointment as a Senior Research Fellow at the Academic Department for Defence Nursing. Matthew saw active service in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since arriving at Northumbria he has been committed to developing The Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families' Research as its Director. Matthew is currently leading a range of research projects which focus veterans and military families. Matthew is the chair of the Independent Advisory Panel for the British Army Infantry Training Centre in Catterick Garrison and an Academic Advisor to the Office of Veterans Affairs.

Dr Lori Boul is a highly experienced and qualified psychologist, psychotherapist, business mentor and trainer.  Lori received her PhD in health psychology from the University of Sheffield.  For over twenty years she has worked throughout the UK, Europe and America with major blue-chip companies, public sector health and education organisations.  More recently Lori has used her experience as an ex-military wife to work with organisations supporting military veterans and their families.

Professor Kiernan and Dr Boul will be assisted in delivering the course by veterans who have extensive expertise of working in the veterans and military families sector.

"Excellent training, very well presented. Increased my knowledge and understanding."

"Prior to the course I felt I had a good level of knowledge around the subject however, after the course I do feel that knowledge has improved, and I have a more in depth understanding of the armed forces community and the struggles they may face. Thank you for such an insightful and thorough course."

"Excellent session, very informative and interesting, good to know how to approach the differences to look for."

"Training very well presented and structured. Brilliant experience of sharing real stories."

"Informative training session that was engaging in all aspects. Learnt about all different kinds of groups of veterans."

"Really relevant information to the whole team in a format that was understood. Engaged all members of the team. Great understanding of military life and their culture gained. I now understand the challenges veterans face when engaging with services! Aware now of support available. Fantastic session! Thank you!"

"Very informative, completely new to this subject but now feel much more prepared for clients. The "do's and don'ts" were particularly useful as knowing how to communicate compassionately helps build rapport, this facilitating access to the service. Thank you very much."

"Thank you. The course has provided me with a lot of practical advice and information and will help me to reflect on my engagement with current clients and best practice."