Op Hearth

Introduction

Military life can be deeply rewarding — full of community, purpose, and shared pride. But it can also be challenging, particularly for the partners and families of serving personnel. Deployment, frequent relocation, and unpredictable schedules can leave families feeling isolated, anxious, or disconnected from local support networks.

Op Hearth exists to bridge that gap.
It offers families a safe, welcoming space to meet others who truly understand what life in the Forces feels like. Weekly sessions combine outdoor learning, creativity, and guided reflection, helping adults and children build coping skills, structure, and confidence.

Unlike clinical support, Op Hearth is informal, community-led, and family-centred. It empowers families to find calm, connection, and meaning — while creating pathways to professional services when needed.

Our mission is simple: to strengthen the wellbeing and resilience of those who keep our Armed Forces families together.

What is a Hearth?

A hearth is the heart of the home — the warm space around which families gather for comfort, nourishment, and safety.
In every culture, the hearth symbolises belonging, stability, and continuity.

For Armed Forces families, it represents the quiet strength of those who stay behind while loved ones serve elsewhere.
It is the partner who keeps routines steady, the parent who reassures children, the spouse who balances everyday life while carrying the emotional load of separation.

Op Hearth celebrates this courage and constancy.
The name pays tribute to the “keepers of the home fire” — the partners who, while unseen in uniform, serve in their own right by sustaining the heart of family life.

Through nature, community, and shared experience, Op Hearth rekindles that sense of warmth, connection, and belonging that can fade during deployment periods.

The Need for Op Hearth

While Armed Forces families are remarkably resilient, service life brings unique pressures that can impact mental health, family dynamics, and community stability.

Identified Needs:

• Loneliness and Isolation: Separation can leave partners feeling cut off from both civilian and military communities, particularly for families living off-base or in rural areas.

• Emotional Strain on Children: Children often experience anxiety, sleep disruption, and behavioural changes during deployment cycles.

• Limited Access to Services: Rural isolation and transient postings make it difficult for families to build long-term support networks.

• SEND Challenges: Parents of children with special educational needs face additional barriers to continuity in education and healthcare.

What Families Told Us:
In consultation sessions and surveys conducted in 2024:

• 78% of families reported heightened stress or anxiety during deployment.

• 64% said they lacked accessible, local wellbeing support.

• 72% wanted family-centred, non-clinical support options.

Our Response:
Op Hearth addresses these needs directly — creating accessible, inclusive outdoor spaces that nurture belonging, reduce loneliness, and provide emotional and practical support.

What We Offer

Op Hearth delivers a structured programme of support rooted in nature, community, and emotional wellbeing.

Weekly Outdoor Wellbeing Sessions

These sessions combine nature connection, mindfulness, and creative learning. Activities include bushcraft, fire-building, nature crafts, guided walks, and reflective storytelling — all designed to restore calm, routine, and confidence.

SEN Advocacy and Family Support

Families are supported by a dedicated SEN and Family Support Worker, offering guidance through education plans, local authority processes, and pastoral challenges. This ensures no family faces bureaucracy alone.

Spouse and Partner Wellbeing

Partners can access safe, supportive environments to share experiences, gain coping strategies, and receive signposting to trusted mental health and domestic support services through professional organisations.

Family Connection Events

Seasonal “Op Hearth Family Days” bring the wider community together for shared experiences — celebrating achievements, building resilience, and connecting with other families who understand the lifestyle.

Peer Support and Signposting

Participants are gently introduced to relevant services, ensuring early intervention and preventing crisis escalation. Through collaboration with Action for Children and local welfare teams, we ensure wraparound care.

What is Op Hearth?

Op Hearth is a 12-month, trauma-informed, nature-based wellbeing programme kindly funded by the Royal Navy Children's Charity and the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Fund and delivered by Green Paths Environmental Education CIC. It has been specifically designed to support partners, spouses, and children of the Armed Forces during times of deployment, training, or service-related separation.
Through weekly outdoor sessions, tailored family support, and connections with trusted partner organisations, Op Hearth helps reduce isolation, improve emotional wellbeing, and strengthen the resilience of those on the home front.

Outcomes and Benefits

Op Hearth directly supports the objectives of the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Fund’s “Apart, Not Alone” programme, which aims to strengthen the well-being and resilience of Armed Forces families experiencing separation due to service.

Through structured, nature-based sessions and targeted family support, Op Hearth delivers meaningful outcomes in three key areas:

Reducing Loneliness and Isolation

Op Hearth brings partners and families together in a safe, understanding environment.
Weekly sessions create continuity, purpose, and belonging — helping families form supportive peer relationships that last beyond the programme.
Many families tell us that Op Hearth is the first time they’ve felt “understood by others who truly get what service life is like.”

Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing

Spending time outdoors has proven therapeutic benefits, particularly for those experiencing anxiety, loneliness, or stress linked to deployment.
Our trauma-informed approach combines gentle physical activity, mindfulness, and shared reflection to promote calm, connection, and confidence.
Families report sleeping better, feeling more emotionally balanced, and having improved communication within the home.

Strengthening Family Resilience

By providing consistent weekly support, Op Hearth helps families re-establish structure and stability.
Partners learn coping strategies, children develop emotional literacy, and families discover positive ways to manage change and uncertainty.
This consistency ensures that even during deployment, families remain connected, capable, and supported — living the ethos of being apart, not alone.

Understanding What Works

All outcomes are monitored through feedback, reflection journals, and wellbeing surveys, allowing us to capture what’s most effective for serving families.
This evidence contributes to national learning on how nature-based, community-led support models can enhance wellbeing across the Armed Forces community.

“Op Hearth helps families stay grounded and connected while apart — proving that distance doesn’t have to mean disconnection.”

Get Involved / Referrals

Families can self-refer or be referred by welfare teams, schools, or local organisations. There are no rank, service branch, or posting restrictions — the programme is open to all serving personnel, families and reservists.

We also welcome collaboration with welfare staff, teachers, and healthcare providers who wish to learn more or co-design additional support for their families.

All staff are DBS-checked, trauma-informed, and experienced in working with military and SEND families.

Data Protection and Privacy

Green Paths Education CIC is committed to protecting the personal data of all participants and partners involved in Op Hearth. Any information shared with us — such as contact details, referral information, or wellbeing feedback — is handled securely, used only for the purposes of delivering and evaluating the project, and stored in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and all data is stored on encrypted, password-protected systems. Personal data will never be shared with third parties without explicit consent, unless required by law or safeguarding obligations.