Legendary Unicorn
Things are broadly stable.
Support needs may be lower, with attention on maintaining progress, building opportunities and keeping things moving in a useful direction.
Mostly steady. Still fabulous.
Our Proposed Support Model
The Unicorn
The Unicorn
System. 🦄
A simple way of understanding where things are right now without turning anybody into a label, number or case file.
Snapshot. Not life sentence.
The Unicorn System forms part of the support model we're developing. It isn't currently being used to provide assessments or allocate services. Veterans Backbone has not yet launched.
Categories & Review
Categories are
Categories are
not labels.
Our proposed categories are intended to help understand how much practical support a person may need at a particular point in time.
They could help identify what's stable, what's changing and which needs should be considered during an appropriate review.
The categories are not medical diagnoses, mental health assessments or a replacement for professional safeguarding decisions.
Think sat nav. Not tattoo.
The easiest way to think about it
It's basically
It's basically
a sat nav.
A sat nav needs to know where you are before it can help work out where you're going.
That doesn't mean you're stuck there forever. It just means understanding the starting point.
That's what we want the Unicorn System to help with once the service is operational.
Starting point first. Journey second.
Meet the unicorns
Green. Amber.
Green. Amber.
Red.
Yes, we could have called them Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. We chose unicorns instead because life is miserable enough.
These are proposed support-planning descriptions, not assessments of anyone using this website.
Finding-Its-Feet Unicorn
Some things are working. Some things are decidedly not.
Extra planning, practical support or help with stability may be useful in one or more areas.
Wobbly-ish. Workable.
Wobbly Unicorn
There may be significant challenges requiring a more urgent review of practical support needs.
Red does not mean failure. It means a person's circumstances may need greater attention.
Needs backup. Not judgement.
Important: these categories are not an emergency triage system. If somebody is in immediate danger, call 999. Veterans Backbone is not currently providing crisis or emergency support.
Important bit
Red is not bad.
Red is not bad.
Green is not “better.”
These aren't grades. Nobody wins a trophy for being Green and nobody gets detention for being Red.
The proposed categories would simply help describe circumstances at a point in time and inform support planning.
No pass marks. No fail marks. No gold stars.
Can my category change?
Absolutely.
In fact, we'd expect circumstances and support needs to change.
Housing changes. Health changes. Relationships change. Work changes. Money changes. Life occasionally throws a chair through the window.
In the future model, categories should be reviewed when circumstances change.
Reality should never be forced to fit a category.
The situation changes. The support changes.
Future Reviews
We want to check whether the picture
We want to check whether the picture
has changed.
Here are the kinds of questions we want the review process to explore.
What's better?
What has stabilised? What is working now that wasn't before?
What's still difficult?
What may need more support, more time or a different approach?
What's changed?
New problems, opportunities, circumstances or priorities.
Would I know my category?
That's the intention.
No mystery files. No secret codes. No people discussing someone's life while forgetting to include them.
Our planned approach is to explain the category, the reasoning behind it, what it means and why it might change.
Any future assessment process will also need appropriate privacy, consent, safeguarding and recordkeeping arrangements.
Categories should clarify things. Not confuse them.
The bit underneath all of this
You're still a
You're still a
person first.
Green, Amber and Red are proposed tools. They are not identities.
Nobody becomes “a Red veteran” or “an Amber case.”
You're a person whose circumstances may change over time. No colour should ever replace understanding your actual situation.
Human first. Category somewhere after that.
Bottom line
The Unicorn System is being designed to help us
The Unicorn System is being designed to help us
support people properly.
It is not permanent.
It is not a judgement.
It is not a score.
And it is not an operational service yet.
Snapshot. Not life sentence.
Where next?
Carry on
Carry on
from here.
Referrals & Assessment
How we intend to understand circumstances without turning the process into an interrogation.
Our planned assessments →Reality of the Journey
Progress is rarely neat. That doesn't mean it isn't progress.
See the journey →Support Pathways
Explore the different routes future support might take.
Explore pathways →
Wondering how this works?
You don't need to know
You don't need to know
which unicorn you are.
The whole point is to understand the person rather than force them into a preselected category.
We're still developing the Unicorn System as part of our future service. Individual assessments aren't available yet.