With more and more of its face-to-face support sessions taking place across the south-west, Armed Forces charity Help for Heroes has added to its delivery team with the appointment of keen sportswoman Hannah Lake as a regional sport, activity and fellowship practitioner.

An experienced winter sports industry professional, Lake, 27, moves to the charity from her role with the NHS's perinatal mental health team, at Jasmine Lodge, in Exeter, where she supported women with mental health issues throughout the perinatal period, with physical activity interventions to help aid their recovery and provide them with the tools to live a more fulfilling life.

Before moving into full-time healthcare, Exeter-born Lake gained nine years' coaching and programme management experience in winter sports around the world, in Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, and Switzerland.

During that time, she worked in a variety of roles at all stages of the alpine athletic pathway: from grassroots club level to working with regional youths training for national championships run under the auspices of FIS (International Ski Federation).

What's more, she also worked alongside Disabled Wintersport Australia, where she passed on her passion for being in the snowy mountains, creating equal opportunities for people with disabilities to participate at all levels in the winter sport of their choice.

Lake, who now lives in Exmouth, is currently combining her role with study for her final year of a bachelor's degree in sport science and psychology.

She explained: "This is a really great opportunity for me to use my background and experience in a different way. One of my friends had support from Help for Heroes – he's an amputee – and he's now on the Paralympic X-Cross snowboard team.

"Seeing his determination and seeing that anything is possible with the right support and the right pathways provided, was why I applied for the job with the charity.

"I've worked with a lot of blind skiers and snowboarders, and young and adult people with both physical and psychological disabilities and seen the benefit of 'mountain life' therapy.

"Another one of my friends was a guide for the Winter Paralympic team and, when I did a session with him, I was just blown away: he'd taken a guy who'd lost his sight after illness and had never skied before, to a place in the Winter Paralympics."

In addition to her winter sports experience, she also worked in the French Alps and south of France working as a white-water kayak river guide, leading groups and individuals.

A lover of the 'great outdoors', in her free time, Lake is a keen mountain biker, climber, hiker, paddleboarder, and surfer in addition to her winter sport activities, and she is keen to demonstrate how such activities can improve both physical and psychological health.

She said: "I'm an outdoorsy person and a believer that anybody can do anything if they really want to and set their mind to it. Helping to create those opportunities for people is something I'm passionate about.

"With my outlook on life – I'm a really positive person – plus the experience I've gained, both professionally and academically, from my degree, I can apply all that and help support veterans through my passion for sports recovery and being outdoors.

"I'm also looking to challenge the veterans a little bit, as that's their mentality, and just to help them be the best they can be. I want to give them the tools to allow them to believe in themselves and to show them the community is very welcoming; it's not just veterans prepared to help veterans, there are a lot of other people too."

She added: "I'm also looking forward to having the opportunity to build relationships and create change and then experiencing the veterans' own self-managed recovery and celebrating the achievements those individuals make.

"I can provide them with the tools and support, but, ultimately, it is they, themselves, who will make the positive change. I'm also looking forward to working with – and learning from – the rest of the excellent team we have here in the south-west."

David Handley, Help for Heroes activity and wellbeing lead for the south-west, added: "We are delighted that Hannah has been able to join our expanding team at a time when the demand for our services is increasing, not only in this region, but across the country.

"She brings masses of experience in sport and mental health, which she'll be able to put to good use as a valuable member of our team. I can already tell with her bubbly personality she'll prove to be a popular addition with our veterans."

Help for Heroes believes those who serve our country deserve support when they're wounded. Every day, men and women have to leave their career in the Armed Forces as a result of physical or psychological wounds. The Charity helps them, and their families, to recover and get on with their lives. It has already supported more than 26,500 people and won't stop until every wounded veteran gets the support they deserve.

For further information on Help for Heroes, or to get support, visithelpforheroes.org.uk.