Our support covers both regulars and reserves in the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the British Army and the Royal Air Force and their families, including anyone who has completed National Service. They are all entitled to lifelong support from SSAFA, no matter how long they have served.
Our recent research shows that service leavers aged 25-64 need more specialised support. The challenges they face are complex – from low income to life-changing injuries or hidden wounds, like depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Armed with this information, we are improving our services for younger, working-age veterans, and we will make sure they know we’re here when they need us.
SSAFA helps the armed forces community in a number of ways, though our focus is on providing direct support to individuals in need of physical or emotional care.
Addiction, relationship breakdown, debt, homelessness, post-traumatic stress, depression and disability are all issues that can affect our members of our Armed Forces community. Many of these problems only become apparent when an individual has to leave their life in the Forces and join ‘Civvy Street’. SSAFA is committed to helping our brave men and women overcome these problems, and rebuild their lives.
We’ve been supporting the Armed Forces for more than 130 years. We support thousands of people in the UK and on military bases around the world. But it’s not just this that makes us unique.
The needs of serving men and women and of veterans are becoming more diverse as the world and military landscape changes. So we work hard to make sure our services are flexible. We constantly adapt them to fit with people we support and what they need. This means we can offer everyone we work with a range of tailored services to help them navigate life in and beyond the military.
SSAFA works in partnership with other military charities and specialist organisations to ensure that those who turn to us for help get the support they need.
We understand the unique demands of service life, whether it’s on UK soil or overseas. Support is available for people at any stage in their military career; from the youngest recruit to the oldest veteran – no one’s service is ever forgotten. We have more than 5,000 trained SSAFA volunteers who provide personalised, face-to-face support to those in their local area.
Our trained welfare advisors and volunteers work with each person to find out exactly what they need. Once we’ve assessed what is required, we’ll help the individual or family access the support they need. This may just be someone to listen to them, but, more often than not, we access financial assistance from statutory and military benevolent funds or foundations that we work with. In addition, we signpost to our other charity partners who can give much needed assistance to help people get their lives back on track.
Whatever they’re facing – from debt or addiction to mental health problems – our Forces and their families can rely on SSAFA and our personalised support to help them through it, for as long as it takes to get that person’s life back to where they want it to be.
When anyone in our Forces family finds themselves in need, SSAFA is the charity they can turn to. Whether it’s financial, practical or emotional, we provide the right kind of support, ensuring independence and dignity is protected at all times.
