Make Sense Of The Mess
Help identify what's happening, what's urgent, what's connected and where it makes sense to start.
Our Planned Support Service
What
What
we plan to do.
Practical support. Straight answers. Less being passed around like a parcel nobody ordered.
Help that actually helps.
This page explains the service we're developing, not support currently available. Veterans Backbone is not yet operational or accepting individual support cases.
The basic idea
Helping work out
Helping work out
what needs dealing with.
Sometimes there's one obvious problem. Sometimes there are twelve problems all fighting for first place.
Our future approach is designed to help untangle what's happening, understand what matters now, identify practical next steps and follow things through where appropriate.
Actual assistance would depend on eligibility, safeguarding, available resources and the agreed scope of support.
One thing at a time still counts.
What we plan to do
Useful stuff.
Useful stuff.
Not impressive-sounding stuff.
These six areas describe our intended approach rather than an existing support service.
Practical Next Steps
Turn a massive pile of problems into smaller, realistic steps that can actually be tackled.
Advocacy
Appropriate help when systems, organisations, decisions or processes are becoming part of the problem.
Our advocacy plans →Accountability
Plans are considerably more useful when somebody remembers they exist. We want to follow up on agreed actions and recognise when progress stalls.
Find The Right Support
Where another organisation is better placed to help, we want to identify appropriate routes rather than make unrealistic promises.
Connection
Support isn't only forms and appointments. Community, conversation and finding ways back into everyday life matter too.
Meet the future RV Crew →
A particular pet hate
The revolving door can
The revolving door can
get in the bin.
Being told to ring somebody else, who tells you to contact another department, who sends you back to the first one, is not joined-up support.
We've all seen what happens when systems lose sight of the person trying to get help.
The model we're developing aims to help keep different services connected, follow up appropriately and reduce the need for repeated explanations.
Same scars. Different battlefield.
Also worth saying
We don't want to take over
We don't want to take over
your life.
Support should increase someone's control, not replace it.
Our intention is to help people understand options, work through problems and make informed decisions while respecting their rights and choices.
Decisions about a person's life remain theirs, subject to applicable safeguarding and legal duties.
You keep the steering wheel.
And what would we expect from you?
Not perfection.
Good support works best when everybody involved takes part as far as they're reasonably able. That includes the service and the person receiving it.
These are proposed principles, not conditions currently being applied to anyone.
Honesty
We can only work with the information available. Nobody should have to share everything immediately, but openness helps everyone understand the situation.
Participation
We'd aim to work with people, rather than take every decision or action on their behalf. Individual circumstances and barriers would matter.
Communication
When something changes, isn't working or suddenly goes spectacularly sideways, communication helps everyone reconsider the plan.
Effort
Nobody expects perfect progress. We'd encourage reasonable engagement with agreed steps while recognising that disability, trauma and other circumstances can affect what somebody can manage.
Tell Us When We're Wrong
If a plan isn't useful, a suggestion makes no sense or we've misunderstood something, people should feel able to challenge it safely.
Bad Days
Bad days happen. Setbacks happen. Motivation occasionally leaves the building without notice. None of that automatically means support has failed.
This goes both ways
You get to expect things
You get to expect things
from us too.
Respect. Honesty. Clear communication. Appropriate boundaries. Safeguarding. Being treated like a human being.
Our future service must be accountable for its own conduct and decisions, not just expect accountability from veterans.
Accountability is a two-way street.
Seriously
We are not looking for
We are not looking for
perfect people.
If everybody arrived organised, confident, motivated, financially stable, emotionally sorted and completely certain what to do next, there wouldn't be much point in building the service in the first place.
Progress can be slow. It can wobble. Sometimes it goes backwards before it goes forwards.
Effort matters. Perfection doesn't.
Basic ground rules
Don't be
Don't be
a dick.
Surprisingly effective policy.
Respect People
Staff, volunteers, other veterans, partners and everybody involved deserve respect.
Respect Boundaries
Support needs boundaries to be safe, useful and sustainable for everyone.
Safety Comes First
Threatening, abusive or unsafe behaviour would require an appropriate response under the service's safeguarding, safety and conduct procedures.
Different needs. Different routes.
Support won't look the same
Support won't look the same
for everybody.
One person may benefit from practical help. Another may require advocacy. Someone else may need specialist support from an established organisation.
Longer-term community and rebuilding initiatives may offer other possibilities, once those are appropriately established.
The route follows the person.
What if VB isn't the right fit?
We'd
We'd
tell you.
We'd rather be useful than impressive.
If something falls outside what our future service can reasonably or safely provide, we'd aim to explain that honestly and identify other appropriate options where possible.
We won't claim expertise, authority or resources that the organisation doesn't have.
No organisation can do everything.
Where next?
Pick whichever bit
Pick whichever bit
is useful.
Support Pathways
Explore the different routes we're planning, including community and specialist support.
Explore pathways →Advocacy
Our intended approach when systems and processes become part of the problem.
Explore advocacy →Reality of the Journey
Because progress rarely behaves itself or travels in a straight line.
See the journey →
Want to know more?
You don't need to have it all
You don't need to have it all
figured out first.
We're still developing the service and aren't currently accepting individual cases or referrals.
You can read about our proposed referral process, or contact us with general questions about the project.