Army Cadets Healthy Minds

The Army Cadets recognises that mental health is everyone’s business.

The Healthy Minds project has been developed to break down barriers, reduce stigma and promote mental health awareness within the Army Cadets.

The Army Cadets does not discriminate against people with physical or mental health conditions. We are an inclusive organisation, that will do its best to work with you and your child to allow them to achieve the full cadet experience. We focus on building a Healthy Mind using our Cadet Syllabus to build confidence and resilience whilst allowing cadets to develop as young people.

It is important to stress our Cadet Force Volunteers are not trained mental health professionals, but we are here to support our cadets during their Cadet Force journey. If we recognise a person in distress, we will encourage, with your co-operation professional support, such as reaching out to appropriate civilian organisations, such as the ones listed below.

We formally launched our Healthy Minds campaign in September 2020 by introducing our Resilience in the Army Cadet online course, which is available for Cadets and Adult Volunteers through the Defence Learning Environment. This launch earnt the Army Cadets a Guinness World Records for the most online participants on a Mental Health Course in a 24-hour period.

Steps to wellbeing

We have also incorporated the five steps to well being into our core business. The Army Cadet Syllabus and wider cadet experience promote

Connecting with others is important for your mental health. Spending time with friends and family can promote good wellbeing. The Army Cadets promotes connections through detachment nights, weekend events and annual camps.

Being active and increasing your heart rate releases endorphins which makes you feel better about things. The Army Cadets have a Keeping Active syllabus, which lets you find an exercise which suits you, as well as other fun activities which get you moving, like AT, Fieldcraft, Expeditions and Drill.

Learning enhances self-esteem, which can improve wellbeing. In the Army Cadets you will learn lots of new skills such as Shooting, Map Reading and First Aid

Giving and helping others improves your wellbeing. In the Army Cadets we promote team work and helping each other as well as looking after the wider community through our Community Engagement syllabus.

Taking Notice is really important for wellbeing, the time to switch off from everyday life and take notice of your surroundings. The Army Cadets is a great way to escape the everyday life of computers and mobile phones by encouraging you to get out in nature and live in the moment.

Our Courses

The Army Cadets have collaborated with the UK’s leading youth Mental Health charity, Young Minds and developed a Healthy Minds Awareness courses focusing on supporting the Mental Health of our young people. There are a number of Healthy Minds Awareness Courses for our Adult Volunteers which are available for booking via Westminster.

In addition to the Awareness Courses, our Adult Volunteers have the opportunity to be trained to deliver the Healthy Minds Awareness course at their local level. This course is known as the Healthy Minds facilitators course and is run three times per annum at our Cadet Training Centre Frimley Park

We are now in the process of developing a Healthy Minds Awareness course focusing on supporting the Mental Health of our Adult Volunteers as well as a programme for our Staff Cadets.

If you need help...

If you need help with your Mental Health, please reach out to one of the specialist charities below

Young Minds – Provide advice and support for young people and parents experiencing a mental health problem.

Samaritans – Is available for anyone who is struggling to cope and needs someone to listen without judgement or pressure.

Papyrus - the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

Mind UK - Provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

Downloadable Resources

The leaflet below should be made available in all detachment huts and weekend training centres. This leaflet gives you hints and tips on how to improve your wellbeing as well as some support numbers on the back.

If you need more leaflets please use the contact us form on this website.