A veteran has described how a military mental health charity helped him to get through a crisis that struck after he left the armed forces – through the power of Shakespeare and his plays.

Androcles Scicluna left the British army in 1979 and consequently struggled with depression. Despite having a home with his family, he ended up sleeping rough, keeping it a secret from his wife and children, and eventually managed to get a council house.

He later got in touch with Combat Stress, a mental health charity for veterans, which put him in contact with a housing and advice organisation called Stoll that helps vulnerable and disabled people who used to serve in the armed forces.

It was this experience that led him to a job at the Poppy Factory in London and a place in the Combat Veteran Players, a theatre group specialising in Shakespeare’s plays. Mr Scicluna had previously had a reputation as an entertainer while in the army, so the group particularly appealed to him.

“Joining the Players has been so helpful, it brought that character out of me. It’s a great improvement,” he told the Independent.

“The last three years are much better than the rest of the years of my life. It is great. Not just being helped but the feeling of now helping others.”

Founded in 1919 after the First World War as the Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Society, Combat Stress currently helps around 5,600 veterans aged between 19 and 97 with mental ill health. Just one-quarter of all veterans with mental ill health seek help, according to research recently published in the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Combat Stress offers free treatment and support to help ex-servicemen and women and their families with issues such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. ADNFCR-2867-ID-801774421-ADNFCR

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