Meeting of the Parliament 05 December 2024
I echo the minister’s comments about the work of the Scottish veterans commissioner and the importance of providing support to prevent homelessness and improve mental health services.
There is no one way of being a veteran. I have spoken in previous years’ debates about the experiences of very young veterans created by the UK’s recruitment policies and those of LGBTQIA+ people during and after their time in the armed forces, as Jamie Greene mentioned earlier. Today, I will speak specifically about veterans in the north-east of Scotland and initiatives that support them.
As with any other group of people, veterans are experts on their own experience and are best placed to understand their own needs, challenges and opportunities. The Veterans First Point network has been developed by veterans and has both veterans and clinicians on its staff. It has six locations across Scotland, including one in Dundee, where it works with statutory and third sector providers to meet the needs of veterans in and around the city. That work includes providing information, signposting to other resources, listening, promoting social networking and promoting and enabling good health and wellbeing.
Veterans First Point notes that nearly a third of its veterans have addresses in areas of the highest levels of social deprivation in Scotland, with only 7 per cent living in areas of least social deprivation. More than 7 per cent are currently homeless, living with friends or in homes of multiple occupancy, with 15 per cent describing their current living situation as unstable, and more than a third have experienced homelessness at some time in their lives.
The Aberdeen armed forces and veterans breakfast club is part of an international network of similar clubs, each run autonomously. They offer social connection, including respite from isolation, help with building and maintaining mental health and wellbeing, assistance with benefits, sharing of information and opportunities, and community engagement. Crucially, the club also provides peer support for veterans in navigating challenges that many share, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Dundee Therapy Garden is a local mental health charity that works with military veterans and personnel who are retired from uniformed services. Based on a dedicated site in Dudhope park, the charity provides therapies for people experiencing difficulties, aiming to improve veterans’ resilience and to develop and maintain positive coping strategies. Veterans, along with volunteers and staff, spend time working in the garden growing flowers, fruit and vegetables.
Those three brief summaries tell us quite a lot about veterans in the north-east and the kinds of support that they need. It is clear from the Veterans First Point figures that there is a substantial overlap between veterans and other communities of multiple deprivation and that they share many fundamental challenges in accessing basic human rights, especially those to health and adequate housing. There are also specific needs that arise out of military experience that relate to conflict, violence and the complexity of institutions.
There is no one way of being a veteran. For some, their time in the armed forces was one of fulfilment, camaraderie and the development of lifelong skills. For others, it was an experience of difficulty and trauma, leading to exclusion and poverty. For most, perhaps, it was a mixture of the two. Some veterans wish to identify as part of an armed forces community; some do not. Some wish to talk about their experiences; many do not. Veterans of whatever age are first and foremost human beings, with the fundamental human rights that we all share.
I pay tribute to all those organisations, especially those in the north-east, that support veterans and their families, whether that support is specific to them or extends to the wider community, because we all need one another.
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