Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east former Marine sets up company to help veterans across the UK feeling suicidal

Miltary veteran - Former marine Simon Maryan, who trained as a psychologist after he left the forces.
Miltary veteran - Former marine Simon Maryan, who trained as a psychologist after he left the forces.

A former Royal Marine has set up a special online treatment service for serving military and veterans who are struggling with their mental health.

Simon Maryan once worked as a former human intelligence specialist serving in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, Africa and the Far East during his 15 years in the armed forces.

He now works as a psychological therapist and has set up an online service called Icarus to help improve support services for veterans.

He co-founded the company to deal with the unique problems faced by former combatants as they came home to return to civilian life.

And now the 46-year-old has big plans for the year ahead including aiming to form the first psychological trauma unit in the UK in the north-east.

Mr Maryan travels around the UK teaching people how to help veterans with mental health problems.

The course is Continuous Professional Development (CPD) accredited and participants need to present three case studies in order to obtain the qualification.

Mr Maryan, who has worked as a psychological therapist for 15 years, explained his motivations for helping.

He said: “A lot of people have problems in their childhood, they join the military and these problems are not addressed.

“When they leave they get no support.”

He gave a chilling example of the poor quality of care available in some regions of the UK for people returning home from military action.

He said: “There is a veteran in Derby who is 70 years old who has attempted suicide twice who will have to wait two-and-a-half years for treatment.”

The course trains people to deal with veterans who have mental health problems and could harm themselves.

Mr Maryan organises the best people to contact through his new venture to make sure help is in place.

The Turriff resident said he has found veterans are more likely to open up to other people who have served in the military.

His business has since attracted three patrons since launching – Major General Peter Currie CBE, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Bertrand Michaud the managing director at Hermes GB Ltd.

Mr Maryan hopes to secure corporate sponsorship to set up a psychological trauma unit in the north-east in the coming years.

>> Click here for more information <<