Herefordshire Veteran Support Centre
The Herefordshire Veteran Support Centre provides a friendly drop in and central information, advice, training and coordination point for the whole of the Armed Forces family in Herefordshire.
A one stop shop for advice, guidance, support and signposting for veterans, serving personnel, their families and carers. Activities, 1-1s, consultations and group work organised to suit the needs.
Our projects
Force for Change – Veteran to Veteran Volunteering - builds on and continues the successful call to arms that took place in lockdown where it was evident that veterans talking to veterans immediately allowed common ground and trust to be built to allow relationships to be made and issues/problems to be freely discussed and sorted. The project aims to work with organisations to identify veterans who would benefit from that low level “buddy buddy” system.
Tackling Loneliness - this project looks to try and really get to the hard to reach veterans and builds on the work of the volunteering project. The plan is to operate a facility that makes a real difference to the Armed Forces families in Herefordshire and will be flexible to meet those needs.
Talk Community Hub - We are also part of a network of Talk Community Hubs across Herefordshire, which provide a safe place where wellbeing information and signposting to local services, groups and activities is available.
To keep up to date with all our latest projects and news, visit our website or follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Background information
Herefordshire Council successfully bid for funding, from the Armed Forces Covenant Grant, to pilot a veteran’s hub solution in Herefordshire, in response to the Armed Forces Veterans’ Survey conducted in 2019.
The results from the survey concluded that the following areas of support were required:
- Better signposting to local sources of support for veterans and their families.
- More local assistance around benefits and pensions.
- More local assistance around veteran employment and converting military qualifications.
- More local assistance around debt and managing finances.
- Non-medical interventions to help support wellbeing and mental health.
- Work closely with NHS services to improve positive outcomes for the Armed Forces community.