SSAFA and the Gillies and Mackay Shed Company combine efforts for veteran's pottery shed

10 December 2020

Paul Wilkie, a veteran who suffers with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been helped by local shed company Gillies and Mackay and SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity to help combat his PTSD.

Paul joined the Royal Engineers in 1990 and worked in many units ranging from Amphibious, Combat, Bomb Disposal, Armoured, & Field Park serving in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.

When Paul left the Armed Forces in 2012, he started to suffer with chronic PTSD, causing him to lose his wife, home, and job, ending up living rough in a forest in Perthshire.

Paul is now settled in a lovely home and has the first PTSD service dog in Scotland, Irma who helps with his PTSD; waking him up from night terrors and allowing him to visit public spaces. Irma won the ‘Most Caring Animal in the UK’ in September 2017 for helping Paul in 2016, staying by his side whilst he was in a coma after developing sepsis from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative Colitis, two conditions that were exacerbated due to Paul’s PTSD. This left Paul with slight brain damage and meant he spent almost three years on and off in Ninewells hospital.

PTSD is something Paul is still trying to manage and was advised this year that artistic therapy would be a positive outlet for him. Paul already makes crooks and walking sticks but has been encouraged to start pottery. To start pottery, Paul needs more space.

SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity helped Paul with a grant supplied by a number of fantastic associations including SSAFA, Royal Engineers Association, Poppy Scotland, Army Benevolent Fund and Help for Heroes. With this support they managed to find £1899 for the case and Paul started to look for workspace options. This was not nearly enough to fund a decent sized shed to start this adventure.

Local company Gillies and Mackay upon hearing Paul’s story wanted to help. Sales and Marketing Manager, Nicola Crawford, took the initial call when Paul asked for help with his dream Shed Life. Nicola knew that Paul would benefit massively from what Gillies and Mackay could do for him and so took it to Managing Director Cara Mackay.

Cara is a massive advocate of men's mental health. She invests in her team ensuring there is complete psychological safety within her workplace and dedicates her time to their own personal development - so it was no surprise when Nicola presented Paul's case to Cara that she agreed wholeheartedly that Gillies and Mackay would help, installing a shed that costs £3,100 for the grant of £1899.

Paul Wilkie said: “I cannot believe the generosity of Gillies and Mackay and thank SSAFA so much for helping me through this process. I am so grateful, thank you.”

Cara Mackay, Managing Director of Gillies and Mackay said: “A shed is an endless possibility of creativity, safety and wellbeing - Paul's story is something we all know well and we're honoured to be of service to him."