“I’ve been involved with the charity for about 11 years now. Started off as a volunteer after my husband was referred here following a mental health breakdown and as times gone on, I’ve gone on to eventually be managing the group, responsible for fundraising, day-to-day running of the project and pretty much everything else. 

Although there’s some help for veterans, there isn’t any help for families, so that’s what really inspired me to get involved. Realising that if the veteran is getting the help that he needs, that has a knock-on effect on their family, a positive effect on their family and that’s what keeps me inspired to do this job today. 

When he was referred to Dig In, he was then spending time with people who had that same lived experience that he had been through, which was great for him, it helps make people realise they’re not on their own. This place also gave me a bit of a break from those caring responsibilities. The time that I hadn’t been able to spend with my children was partially given back to me and as my husband improved, our home life improved. We were able to start doing a lot of things that we hadn’t been doing, like going on holidays. It’s honestly been life changing. I’m giving back now to other people that have been in my situation and if I can help them to avoid the worst parts of that then that’s as much as I need really. 

We have quite a lengthy relationship with the Community Foundation for Lancashire. We’ve received different grants over the years for different projects. I’ve always found them very approachable, very pleasant. I’ve had visits in the past from them, which I love. I love to have funders coming to the project to actually see what we’re doing. Out of all the funders, and I’ve worked with a lot of funders, they’re up there with the best ones to work with.”