Battling On Sees an 800% Increase in Demand for Support Services from Veterans

Battling On Sees an 800% Increase in Demand for Support Services from Veterans

Off By Ed Hanna

Over the last 16 months it has been the small grassroots organisations that have been able to adapt quickly to meet the challenges that the pandemic has created.

By Nikki Markham MBE

It is estimated that there are 37,000 Veterans living in or around Plymouth and West Devon and 40,000 in Cornwall. Overnight on 23 March 2020 the lockdown came into place and Veterans found that services and activities they had been accessing on a regular basis ceased. In Plymouth, the Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes both closed their centres and as time passed, these closures became permanent with both organisations moving to offer different models of support.

As these services closed, Battling On saw an 800% increase in referrals from statutory and non-statutory bodies all desperate to try to find their clients local support. To fill this void Battling On adapted its services to provide mentor support via twice weekly phone calls, a 24-hour crisis line, food and hygiene parcels, tablets and ICT equipment so Veterans could access online classes and guidance on debt, housing and benefits etc. We also provided support for Veterans going through the criminal justice system and sent out over 500 creative activity packs targeting elderly Veterans. Over the Christmas period we distributed 250 Christmas dinner hampers and parcels.  

Local
Local charities and community groups have come together to create integrated services allowing Veterans to access a wide variety of support seamlessly. A service that Veterans have long been asking for, and to date has not been delivered. A service that listens to them and creates individualised support packages without Veterans being referred to countless organisations and having to re-tell their story at each stage. While technology is a wonderful thing it is impersonal and as the larger charities and organisations move to call centres and digital referrals, many Veterans are being left out in the cold. Think tanks, committees and strategy groups are all very well in the Westminster bubble; politicians will tell you everything possible is being done to support Veterans; everything that is but listening to them.

As soon as restrictions were lifted in June, Battling On opened its doors. Being based on a care farm we were able to offer a wide variety of outdoor activities. To remove barriers to accessing the centre we offered free minibus pickups. We also provided over 1,200 lunches for Veterans cooked on field kitchens outdoors by volunteers.

We are now seeing Veterans with more complex issues needing significant one-to-one support and a multi-agency approach. Luckily, the partnerships forged through lockdown with other small Veteran charities and community groups are meeting that challenge, but the significant question we all need to ask is, why do all these small organisations who are providing invaluable services need to survive hand to mouth and grant to grant?

Contact Battling On:

Tel: 01579 384798

email: info@battling-on.com

www.battling-on.com