The Battle Back Centre

The Battle Back Centre aims to help armed forced personnel who are wounded, injured or sick to achieve their best possible recovery and return to duty or make a smooth transition to civilian life.

Working in partnership with The Royal British Legion (TRBL) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), our university is proud to deliver and evaluate residential personal The Battle Back. recovery and development courses for military wounded, injured and sick (WIS) personnel at The Battle Back Centre. 

TRBL provided £27 million to establish and operate The Battle Back Centre, at the Lilleshall National Sports and Conferencing Centre in Shropshire.

Coaching has been provided by our university’s School of Sport and Carnegie Great Outdoors since the centre’s launch in 2011. The programme has been evaluated by our university’s Centre for Social Justice in Sport and Society since its inception. Our university was commissioned by TRBL because of our expertise in the delivery and evaluation of education, development and training courses using the outdoors and sport as vehicles for change. We have also undertaken other collaborative work in support of the delivery of the vision, mission and values of the centre.

The centre is part of the MoD’s Defence Recovery Capability programme and attendance for a one-week residential course is a mandatory requirement of WIS personnel as part of their individual recovery programmes. The first pilot course was delivered by Leeds Beckett in October 2011. Now our University delivers and evaluates 34 week-long residential courses per year at The Battle Back Centre.

10 years at the battle back centre

In 2011 The Royal British Legion commissioned Leeds Beckett University's (LBU) Carnegie Great Outdoors (CGO) to design and deliver a supportive recovery course for service Personnel on Recovery Duties (PRD) with mental or physical illnesses. Carnegie School of Sport (CSS) were commissioned to carry out the evaluation of the course, you can find a 10 year review of the project below.

Our aim is to help armed forced personnel who are wounded, injured or sick to achieve their best possible recovery and return to duty or make a smooth transition to civilian life.

The Royal British Legion's Battle Back Centre One of the many ways it helps to provide hope is through the Battle Back Centre, where wounded, injured and sick Service men and women can challenge their limits.

 "I am so grateful to The Royal British Legion for giving me the opportunity to attend; it literally saved my life". 

Could Battle Back help you?

Could you, or someone you know, benefit from attending a Battle Back course? Details for potential beneficiaries can be found below.

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