Human first.
You're a person before you're a referral number, case file, diagnosis or problem to be solved. That's the principle we're building around.
About Veterans Backbone
Support shouldn't feel like
Support shouldn't feel like
another battle.
Veterans Backbone is being established to help veterans and their families navigate the messy bits of life — without judgement, without being passed from pillar to post and without expecting you to have all the answers before you ask for help.
We're currently in the development stage. Veterans Backbone is not yet a registered charity, and our veteran support services have not launched.
So, what actually is VB?
A backbone when yours is
A backbone when yours is
taking a battering.
Veterans Backbone is being built around practical, human support. Sometimes that might mean helping someone work out where the hell to start. Sometimes it's advocacy, information, connections or simply having someone beside you who isn't going to vanish the moment things get complicated.
We don't expect people's lives to fit neatly into boxes, because they generally don't.
Housing, money, family, mental health, isolation, transitioning from military life or just life deciding to throw several things at you at once — it all overlaps. So we want our future support to recognise that too.
We're not here to tick boxes
We're building things a little
We're building things a little
differently.
Mostly because doing the same thing that isn't working would be bloody pointless.
No judgement.
Life gets messy. You shouldn't have to tidy it up before you're allowed through the door.
No disappearing act.
If something isn't ours to fix, that shouldn't mean you're simply pointed towards another door and wished good luck. We want to build a service that follows things through.
Veterans Backbone started because I got tired of watching people get passed around systems that were supposed to help them.
Different lives. Different stories. Different battles. But a lot of the scars look surprisingly familiar.
I'm not interested in the "poor me" version of support. I'm interested in practical help, straight answers, people actually listening and not disappearing when things get messy.
I know what it feels like when life changes shape on you. I know what it's like to rebuild when you didn't exactly ask for the demolition.
Same scars.
Different battlefield.
That's really the heart of VB. No judgement. No bullshit. No pretending everything can be fixed with a leaflet and a phone number.
That's what I want Veterans Backbone to become. People helping people find their footing again.
Shelley ♥
The useful bit
What are we
What are we
working towards?
Whatever support looks like, the aim will be the same: helping people move forward rather than leaving them stuck in another revolving door.
We're currently preparing our first community-based support service. Here's what we want it to offer once we're ready to launch.
Listen properly.
Not just to the obvious problem. We want to understand what's actually going on around it too.
Help make sense of the mess.
When everything feels tangled together, we want to help work out what needs dealing with, what can wait and where to start.
Advocate.
Sometimes people need information. Sometimes they need someone standing beside them making sure they're actually being heard. We want that to be part of our approach.
Connect the dots.
We plan to work alongside other organisations and services where they're the right people to help — without pretending one organisation can do everything.
There's more to life than surviving it
Community
Community
matters too.
Support isn't only about turning up when everything has gone spectacularly tits-up.
Connection, friendship, purpose, taking the piss, getting out of the house and being around people who get it can matter just as much.
That's a big part of the thinking behind the RV Crew, which forms part of our plans for Veterans Backbone.
Enough about us.
Want to know
Want to know
what comes next?
Veterans Backbone isn't delivering support services just yet, but we're working on the foundations needed to make that happen.
You can find out more about our plans or get in touch if you'd like to learn about the project.