Life after traumatic injury can be challenging
Blesma is a unique association of 2,697 Members with a defining commitment to help them live independent and fulfilling lives after suffering the loss of limbs, use of limbs, sight, speech or hearing. Blesma works tirelessly to provide practical, emotional and financial support to injured veterans and their families and widows as they rebuild their lives.
If you have served in the British Armed Forces and have suffered life changing injury, either during or after your service you may be eligible for Blesma Membership.
Your injury does not need to have been sustained during combat, it could have happened during a training exercise or have been due to an accident or illness whilst serving.
Am I eligible to join Blesma?
- If you have lost a limb in service or have lost the use of limbs, suffered permanent loss of speech, hearing, or sight whilst serving or as a result of service in any branch of His Majesty’s Forces or Auxiliary Forces you may be eligible for Membership.
- If you have lost a limb, or use of a limb through traumatic incident or sight of an eye other than through service-related causes or if you are of civilian status and have lost a limb or sight of an eye as a result of War Service or enemy action you may be eligible for Membership.
What Can Blesma Do For you?
Members have helped each other since the very first days of Blesma following World War One. This lies at the heart of what we do and applies our knowledge of Members’ shared experiences; of traumatic injury, recuperation and eventual stability.
Being a Member of Blesma gives you and your family access to this fellowship and much more:
- Advice and information on orthotics, prosthetics, mobility aid provision, benefits and the War Pension Compensation Scheme.
- Financial assistance in the form of grants to help with the additional costs and hardships of living with disability.
- A year-round calendar of activities; our comprehensive range of activities and courses stretches from the cerebral to the adrenaline fuelled and includes breaks for couples and families.
- Advocacy to ensure prosthetics and disabled provision meets the needs of every individual Member; we speak up and campaign for our Membership where necessary.
- Opportunities to assist fellow Members through volunteering.
- A uniquely personal approach; we place great emphasis on caring, listening, and striving to learn, never patronising and putting Members’ needs first. Every Member will be assigned one of our nine Blesma Support Officers who along with Blesma Outreach Officers are here and on hand to help provide advice and emotional support to veterans and their families.
Become a Blesma Member
As an association, our beneficiaries are our Members. The circumstances in which you sustained your injury will depend on which membership category you fall into, but this does not affect the support you receive.
Fill out this link to apply for Blesma Membership. The form will go to our membership team who will oversee your application from there.
In the last year we welcomed 152 new Members!