A NEW programme supporting children in military families has launched across schools in Hampshire and Wiltshire.

Forces Club Ltd, co-founded by Charley Louise Brown and Emma Adams, has been designed to support the emotional and physical well-being of service children.

Charley called the programme her “labour of love”, describing it as a programme her team runs in army welfare units for families and children, and also in schools.

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“It’s an established programme where we work alongside the curriculum to allow the children to come together with other children in the same situation and explore the emotions are attached with that situation.”

The programme allows service children to come together in a safe space to create art, have PHSE sessions and play games, with the programme designed to let children express, explore and understand the emotions associated with the journey of being a service child.

Charley, who is married to a soldier, was inspired to put the programme together prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic due to her own experiences with the armed forces.

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She explained: “With our children I know how difficult it is when my husband deploys; it’s an emotional rollercoaster, combined with me still trying to work a full-time job, still trying to run a house, you’re then dealing with that additional emotional need from the children.

“It’s really hard and there’s nowhere really to reach out. So I devised a programme that meant I could create special deployment boxes.”

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The deployment boxes contain various resources that families can use to support each other when parents are away on deployment.

This includes teddy bears and paper that children can use to note any big moments that have happened to them while their parents have been away, and which can help them set up talking points for when their parent returns.

Charley said that she is “absolutely buzzing” at the continued success of the programme.

She added: “I am so happy, and I cannot even put it into words. It’s even not for me, it’s for these children.”