New academic role for Veterans Aid CEO
CEO of Veterans Aid Dr Hugh Milroy has been appointed Visiting Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN).
He said, “I am proud and delighted to have what has been a long ‘informal’ relationship with King’s formalised in this way. Students are our future and I hope that by working with them we can open minds and challenge some of the orthodox thinking about veterans that leads to so much harmful stereotyping.”
Edgar Jones, Professor of the History of Medicine and Psychiatry in the department, said, “It is important that our research at King's has an impact on policy and engages with key actors in the veteran community. For this reason the appointment of Dr Hugh Milroy, the Chief Executive of Veterans Aid, is greatly to be welcomed. His expertise and contribution to the ex-service community are significant and will help to enhance the value of our work at IoPPN.”
Formerly a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, Dr Milroy is also an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of East Anglia’s School of Social Work where he studied for his PhD. In 2016 he also became a Doctor of Civil Law (HC) at UEA.
In 2016 Professor Jones and Dr Milroy co-authored Stolen trauma: why some veterans elaborate their psychological experience of military service.
Dr Milroy, a former RAF officer and Gulf War veteran, has been involved with Veterans Aid and the wellbeing of former service personnel since 1996. His MA looked at the effect of military service on Armed Forces personnel/families in general while his PhD was conducted among street homeless veterans. Both degrees focused on the impact of military service on the lives of service personnel and their families while the PhD explored in depth the issues of success and failure/homelessness in the post-service community.
He became CEO of Veterans Aid in 2005 and under his guidance the charity has become the national “Accident & Emergency Unit” for the ex-service community with a distinct and effective prevention ethos. The modus operandi of focusing on holistic wellbeing and sustainable futures, rather than constantly redefining personal history, has dramatically lowered the rate of recidivism among clients and prevented many from becoming entrenched in homelessness/social exclusion.
in June 2011 was awarded the OBE for his contribution to the wellbeing of Veterans.
