SSAFA’S MENTORING SERVICE PROVIDES HELPING HAND TO SERVICE LEAVERS
SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity’s Mentoring service provides support to members of the Armed Forces and their families when they leave the military and join civilian life.
The service has a holistic approach to transition and provides one-to-one support for service members that are about to leave the Forces, or veterans up to two years post discharge. Service leavers (mentees) will be assigned a mentor in their local area and this relationship will help to build resilience and empower the mentee to fulfil their potential outside the military.
As a result of the 2020 pandemic, the need to be flexible and adaptable was imperative, with SSAFA needing to adopt new methods of communication to continue their support to service leavers. Volunteer mentors began to communicate on other platforms, such as phone and video calls, email and text to continue to offer a full service to those in need. As the lockdown eased, SSAFA started to return to face-to-face meetings, initially meeting beneficiaries for a walk in the park rather than for a coffee indoors. This helped to reduce the isolation and loneliness mentees were experiencing due to the pandemic and enabled the charity to address the needs of their beneficiaries.
To find out more about SSAFA’s Mentoring service, visit
