At Allan Webb, we’re proud to be a longstanding supporter of SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity. Their vital work provides a lifeline to serving personnel, veterans and their families in their time of need. To provide a glimpse into how SSAFA provides support our Senior Project Manager, Ian Whitworth, shares some of his experiences transitioning to civilian life and the events that shaped his decision to become a SSAFA Mentor.
“I left the RAF 4 years ago after a 24 year career serving mainly on fast jets as an Avionic Technician. I travelled the world, saw a lot of good places, saw a lot of not so good places. But through all this was a constant team of 100+ friends and colleagues. I was never really on my own and had an active social life both in and out of the RAF life.
This changed in February 2020 as I left the service to pursue a career in Project Management with Allan Webb Ltd. I’m sure we can all recall what happened in March 2020! I suddenly had to adapt from working with a large number of people, seeing different people and interacting with them personally to suddenly finding myself sat in a room of my house, on my own with only a laptop and a monitor for company.
The novelty of being able to set my own timetable and not have seniors monitoring output constantly wore off quickly! Despite regular communications with my company and my boss, I became very lonely. My company were incredibly supportive and did the very best they could have in the circumstances. But over the next couple of years and post covid I still felt lonely and alone. I’d go days and weeks without seeing another human other than my wife and kids. They could leave home and go to work or school, but my office was, and still is, my home. I was grumpy, miserable, and not in a good place mentally. But I managed to overcome, mostly, my demons of the transition to civilian life. I still feel lonely a lot of the time, but I’m managing that and proactively making myself get out more, do more things, see more people.
It was this feeling of wanting to get out more that made me look to volunteering for an organisation in some capacity. Allan Webb is a major supporter of SSAFA, sponsoring events and carrying out fundraising activities throughout the year. So volunteering with SSAFA was the obvious choice for me.
Their website is full of opportunities for volunteers who want to give their time. From case work and mentoring to branch administrators and all manner of other roles that fit your particular skillset and goals. After reading the “Job Description” of the Veterans Mentor, I felt that that was what I wanted to do.
I wanted to, and passionately still do, help service leavers in some way achieve the transition from service life into the civilian one. If I can stop one person going through the dark place I went to, I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve.
For some this is a simple process, and they don’t need any support. For others it can be a traumatic ordeal. The life you’ve known for decades, your entire adult life, changes the second you’ve crossed the main gate for that final time. You’re no longer a big fish in a small pond, you’re back to being a small, albeit incredibly experienced, fish in a huge pond. Nothing is no longer handed to you. If you can’t buy food, you can’t eat. If you can’t pay rent or mortgage, you don’t have a place to live. The service blanket is all encompassing and is a fantastic thing to enjoy. But when it has been pulled away, it can be very difficult to adjust to “normality”. The normality that civvies have been battling their entire lives, is now the next challenge a service leaver needs to take on.
This is where a SSAFA mentor can help. I’ve made that transition; I have that experience to dip into. I can relate and I can empathise with all the feelings they are having as I’ve been there and done it and done it successfully. I am here for service leavers to have an ear, provide real world lived experience and guidance to support them on their journey. There is an enormous support network out there that is ready, willing and able to help. These opportunities are for me to signpost and support the service leaver exploit as much as they need. I’m not an expert in many things, but I know the local services that available who are.
Across the UK a relatively small but dedicated number of volunteers are on hand to provide all service leavers the help, guidance and support they need. We are managed by a dedicated mentoring service team who handle and pair us with our mentees based upon location and mentee needs.
I meet with my mentees once per week at a neutral location. Normally a coffee shop as cake and coffee normally gets the conversation flowing and we discuss the mentees needs, what they want to achieve and by when. We then come up with a plan that helps them get there. Sometimes they only need to hear everything will be ok and I bid them farewell and good luck as that is all they need. Sometimes it’s a long-term thing that requires input from multiple agencies and support providers. Sometimes it’s a more in-depth case, a spouse has been abused, the service leaver has been terminated due to drugs. The breadth of reasons a service leaver needs a mentor is as broad as the range of services we offer. Services that are confidential and non judgmental.
Whilst this can be hard work, it is incredibly satisfying. Watching a mentee change from that initial contact to finally saying goodbye as they’ve achieved what they need to is so rewarding and something I would recommend to anyone to give a go.
The process is fairly straight forward, with all training is provided by SSAFA at one of many residential training courses. Once finished you are awarded a City and Guilds L2 in Peer Mentoring.”
Interested in learning more about SSAFA mentoring? Visit their website: www.ssafa.org.uk/volunteer/mentor
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