I LOVED the 80s advert for Cadbury’s caramel. Can you remember it?

A voluptuous, ebullient bunny with a pink bow seduced us with her dulcet tones, “Hey Mr Beaver, why are you beavering around?

Take it easy with Cabury’s caramel.”

If only it was that easy.

Imagine if we could just buy a bar of Cadbury’s caramel and all our woes would be washed away by the smooth, sweet, syrupy, caramel nectar.

In our austere economic climate, stress is one of our biggest pressures.

In the military the stress levels are higher than they have ever been, but sssh – don’t mention it.

First rule of Fight Club is don’t talk about Fight Club.

Second rule of Fight Club is if you have to talk about Fight Club only say good things.

The thing about stress is that it creeps up on you and quite often you don’t even realise that you are stressed until you are either no longer stressed, or you are having a nervous breakdown and it’s too late. Now, I am not in the military, but I happen to know that the military’s answer to stress is to send ‘the stressed’ on to a ‘stress course’, where you receive a nice Powerpoint presentation on how to manage stress.

As the military is governed by the Government, they are not authorised to suggest any type of holistic solution to stress management.

Should a member of the military want to address their stress by means other than Powerpoint, they will need to seek these answers themselves.

A good organisation to contact is the Healing Hands network (healinghands network.org.uk).

They offer free massages and reiki treatments to military personnel.

The London Meditation Project (londonmeditation project.org) also offers free or subsidised courses for the serving.

The Therapy Connection is a local practice which can also help. Call on 01722 340364.

  • Writer and journalist Clare Macnaughton’s latest book is available on Amazon worldwide.

A Modern Military Mother – Tales from the Domestic Frontline is an honest account of being married to an RAF officer serving in the British military.