Stockport Express

Army vet with PTSD who is helping others

- KATHERINE BAINBRIDGE katherine.bainbridge@menmedia.co.uk @KBainbridg­eMEN

AN ex-Army veteran who had a breakdown after suffering from PTSD is now hoping to help others on the road to recovery.

Loz Moore, 36, who is from Stockport and now lives in Hyde, joined the army in 2006 – serving with the Cheshire and Mercian regiments – and did tours of Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanista­n.

But he was discharged in September last year after he struggled to cope and says his life ‘imploded’.

“I was based down south at the time and was married to a woman down there,” he said. “My kids were in Stockport and I was trying to keep up my relationsh­ip with them, my marriage and my career – everything was spinning out of control.

“I went into quite a dark place for about two years and I couldn’t find anything to help me. I had therapy but it was not fixing the elements of me that needed to be fixed.”

Loz says he started to use alcohol as a crutch and eventually his marriage broke down and he left the Army.

“It’s hard because the Army sends you home on sick leave and you lose your sense of identity,” he said. “You go from being someone with a lot of responsibi­lity and authority to just sitting on the sofa.

“It is quite a miserable experience. I realised I was declining quite quickly and I needed to find a way to fix myself before it came to something like suicide.”

Loz identified that the things that made him feel better were being around people who shared the same problems, doing adventurou­s activities outside and reconnecti­ng with his spirituali­ty.

“I was the guinea pig in my own experiment, and I started to realise I was on to something,” he said. “I can now say I am completely recovered and have never been in a better place.”

He has moved back up north, given up drinking and repaired his relationsh­ip with his three sons – and now he hopes to help others.

Loz has set up Nomad Adventure Therapy, an online support community and he posts videos with tips that have helped him and also runs bushcraft courses.

He said: “It’s about reconnecti­ng with nature, but you don’t have to go to the Himalayas to find peace, you can go to your local park.

“Anyone who wants to get involved can do.”

For more informatio­n visit nomad-at.com. There is a fundraisin­g mind, body, spirit event taking place at Bredbury Hall on Saturday, March 25.

 ??  ?? ●●Loz Moore set up Nomad Adventure Therapy to help veterans after he left the Army with PTSD
●●Loz Moore set up Nomad Adventure Therapy to help veterans after he left the Army with PTSD

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