YOU AND THE RAF
The Work of RAF Community Support
A strong sense of community and a feeling of personal and family well-being translates into military readiness, effectiveness and retention.
F
or many years, the RAF has recognised that if you support Service personnel and their families, then you
build resilience, which in turn helps to deliver operational effect. To that end the Headquarters Air Command Community Support (CSpt) Team provides the welfare policy hub to facilitate support to the wider RAF Community. Headed by Gp Capt Paul McSherry, the Community Support Team has a broad remit and routinely tackles topics as diverse as future housing policy, support to casualties and bereaved families, the Armed Forces Covenant, charitable support and Local Initiative Grant funding.
RAF HIVES
A cornerstone of the Community Support output is the RAF HIVE Information Service, with thirty-five HIVE Information Officers (HIOs) providing an invaluable service on stations across the UK. HIOs provide timely and accurate information to the tri-Service community. They also play a vital role in ‘signposting’ those seeking help to the wealth of agencies that can offer support.
Another crucial role is helping those families who have family members deployed on operations. The Deployment Support Packs issued by the HIVE team are an invaluable resource for personnel and their families and can help ease the burden of separated service.
Community Development Officers Good working relationships with our neighbours are vital and there are twenty- six Community Development Officers (CDOs) across the RAF who liaise with local communities and agencies to improve relationships and maximise co-operation. They also ensure that Service children and young people have access to structured and meaningful opportunities, appropriate to their needs, including play, youth and out of school clubs and holiday activities. All CDOs are professionally qualified and have skills including developing community groups, assisting with appeals for school places where demand is high, supporting Early Years provision and advising on legislation.
SSAFA
One of the key agencies that all members of the RAF community can draw on is
the Soldier, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA). A charity with a long and distinguished history of assisting personnel and their families, SSAFA provides an independent counselling and support service under the banner SSAFA Forces-Help.
Working with the SSAFA Head of Service, the Community Support Team helps to co-ordinate this effort and, through a unique contract, funds over sixty trained counsellors ‘in the field’. Much of their work centres on relationship difficulties, support to sick and injured and assistance with welfare-related casework. The way we manage our Wounded, Injured and Sick Service personnel is also very much part of the Community Support Team’s business. Later in 2012, we aim to enhance the way we deliver this support through a new RAF Recovery Pathway, which will help individuals transition more effectively either back into the Service or on to civilian life.
Housing
Amongst his many responsibilities, Gp Capt McSherry is the RAF’s ‘Housing Colonel’. He is our focal point for all single-Service housing policy and provides the RAF perspective on wider MoD accommodation
36 Envoy Spring 2012
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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