Meet the Expert: Dr Jamie Barker
Welcome to 'Meet the Expert', our news series that brings you informative interviews with Armed Forces researchers, policy makers, and service providers. Read on to learn about current work, aspirations for progress and future work, and insights into expert perspectives on key issues impacting the Armed Forces community.
In this issue, we interviewed Dr Jamie Barker, a Reader in Applied Sport and Performance Psychology at Loughborough University and a trained and qualified Sport and Exercise Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council. Jamie is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology and an Associate Editor for Mental Health Science. The primary focus of Dr Barker's research is stress mental health and well-being within sport, business and the Armed Forces community
1. Please tell us about your background and how you came to be involved in work relating to the Armed Forces Community?
My research interests are typically based around stress, mental health and well-being. During my career, I have been fortunate to work with several organisations within sport, business and the military to both conduct research and apply knowledge. My interest in the Armed Forces Community started back in 2017 when I had the pleasure of supervising Dr Craig White’s PhD on social resilience, leadership, and well-being, which was sponsored as part of the Robson Academy of Resilience within the Royal Air Force. It was during this work that we also developed our Veterans Resilience Programme (VRP) back in 2020. The VRP (funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and in collaboration with the Royal Air Forces Association) has now successfully supported over 70 ex-Service personnel in developing their social resilience and well-being skills, with some fantastic long-term outcomes for those who attend.
2. What research projects are you currently working on and how do they fit into the bigger picture of understanding and supporting the Armed Forces Community?
My current work is really focussed on how we understand and maximise the resilience, mental health and well-being of those individuals in high-performance settings. Whether that be head teachers, cricketers, senior leaders and ex-Service personnel, we are keen to support and develop systems and methods which can facilitate optimal well-being and performance. Typically, we draw on social identity theory and systems level theorising to help us understand the importance of identity, connections, relationships, leadership and organisational structures in influencing individual outcomes such as resilience, effective coping, and mental health. VPR, which we developed at Loughborough University back in 2020, is very much underpinned by social identity processes. For example, from day one of the program we seek to explore and understand the personal stories, identities and values of the ex-Service personnel. We then draw upon this information, building a unique identity for the group through the activities which we do with them. To illustrate, most of the activities involve sharing experiences around social support and previous and current group memberships. Our goal is very much to help ex-Service personnel develop and finesse their sense of identity, social support, and group memberships. For some, this will mean stepping back from negative groups they are a part of or stepping into a new group. By doing so, we are helping ex-Service personnel to grow their social networks, thus enabling them to deal more effectively with civilian life and or transition. To date, our data is very positive and outlines that focussing on these social aspects equips ex-Service personnel with the necessary thinking, reflection and skills to make positive changes for their mental health and well-being. More importantly, we have observed behavioural changes in our ex-Service personnel post program, with many taking up new ventures, employment and support.
3. What other research or policy areas relating to the Armed Forces Community are you especially passionate about or feel need further attention?
We are passionate about working with the families and children of Serving personnel and ex-Service personnel. Moreover, focussing work on the carers and support providers of the ex-Service personnel community is also an area where we think we can have impact. In essence, building on our VRP work and feedback from those we work with, we see a great opportunity to apply our social identity theorising and work to the wider ex-Service personnel related community to help bring about more positive mental health and limit the impact of transitions and isolation. By cascading our work through the family and carer system, we aim to develop social support systems and positive group memberships.
4. What are your future aspirations for the impact and utilization of your work/research?
Looking ahead, we want the VRP to be a nationwide, multi-centre programme available to all tri-Service ex-Service personnel across the UK. Our work also has wide-ranging implications and impact for Serving military personnel, relating to induction into the military and preparation for leaving. We see a real return on investment by focussing on the social aspects of ex-Serving or Serving personnel health and therefore are passionate about providing our program as an option for all concerned. Data across multiple countries and contexts demonstrates the influence which identity, relationships and social support have on important outcomes. Hence, we feel that we have been able to place this theory as a central piece of our offering, and apply it in a manner which is palatable, user friendly and impactful.
5. What do you think are the key challenges impacting current ex-Service personnel and their families, and how do you think research and/or policy can be best used to address them?
From our experience, it appears that current key challenges relate to supporting ex-Service personnel and their families prior to and during transition into civilian life. Indeed, a lot of the ex-Service personnel whom we have worked with talk about how valuable and impactful our VRP work would have been for them and their families prior to leaving the military to develop effective coping strategies relating to transition. As mentioned above, we have found our work around identity mapping, social support, and developing positive group memberships and the broader nature of identity development to be arguably the most impactful for ex-Service personnel’s perceptions and behaviours post course. Indeed, this is also supported in our follow-up data, which outlines these aspects to still be salient some six months post program.
6. What do you think will be the leading challenges for the next generation of ex-Service personnel, and how do you think research and/or policy can be best used to address them?
Some key considerations for the next generation of ex-Service personnel relate to continuing to support transitional experiences, developing social resilience and effective social support networks, reducing isolation and loneliness and how best to support the families and children of ex-Service personnel.
7. Can you tell us about the methods you tend to use in your research, and why you gravitate towards these kinds of approaches?
In our work we draw a lot on social identity theory to guide our understanding and intervention work. We seek to develop social resilience in the people we work with through identifying and crafting positive group memberships and developing effective social support networks. In the VRP, we use a combination of physical activity, expert workshops, and disclosure sessions as methods to bring about changes in thoughts, perceptions, and behaviours. When evaluating our work, we draw on quantitative and qualitative methodologies to explore effects and efficacy and to help modify our approaches.
8. Given unlimited funding and time, what would be your dream piece of research to undertake involving the Armed Forces community?
What a great question! We would be very interested in developing a nationwide, multi-centre intervention programme which brings together our knowledge, expertise, and evidence to work with Serving personnel and ex-Service personnel in relation to their well-being and resilience. Ultimately, looking to track the people we work with over time and to evaluate the long-term impact of intervention work more broadly seem to be key considerations. Finally, establishing the most effective ways to influence the families and children of Serving personnel and ex-Service personnel would be particularly interesting and impactful work.
Many thanks to Dr Jamie Barker for sharing his insights.
Catch us next month for another interesting and informative interview with an expert from the Armed Forces community.
