IF you are a veteran of the armed forces a charity is reaching out to let you know they’ve got your back.

Today armed forces charity SSAFA is launching a campaign to directly help people of a working age who leave the army, navy or RAF and struggle to assimilate to civilian life.

The charity has already helped 236 people across Dorset so far this year – but it wants to reach out and help even more.

Executive director of the charity Corinne Pluchino said the vast majority of those who leave the armed forces – approximately 20,000 people per year – go on to lead successful lives and work in other careers.

But others struggle with issues such as housing, debt, home mobility adaptations, mental health and finances.

Corinne said: “There are some issues which may prevent veterans coming forward to seek help – the first of these is pride, which veterans themselves have said is a factor. These are people who have been trained to be completely self-sufficient and it can be difficult to ask for help. Another reason is that it can be confusing to know where to turn to.”

The south west region has the highest proportion of armed forces veterans in the UK – around one in 13 people, or 333,000 veterans.

Corinne added that the charity – which is the oldest national military charity supporting servicemen and women, and their families, from all three services – has seen a ‘significant’ increase in the number of working age veterans it is supporting. A decade ago around a quarter of the people the charity helped were under the age of 65. Now that proportion is 45 per cent.

She said: “This is not about holding people’s hands. We will pick you up, dust you down and point you in the right direction. Our message is: Do not suffer in silence. You have served your country, you deserve help if you need it.”

There are branches of SSAFA in Weymouth and Portland, West Dorset and Purbeck and many of the volunteers who work there are armed forces veterans themselves.

David Swift joined the army aged 17 and ended up living on the streets when he left, after finding it almost impossible to adjust. Now aged 40 he said: “In the space of a year I went from being a healthy young man in a great regiment to someone sitting in a park wondering what the point of my life was. You need help, but your pride is too important to you. You go from being this soldier everyone respects to being the lowest of the low. You do everything in your power not to ask for help. Sometimes you think your family would be better off without you.”

The SSAFA Got Your Back campaign launches today.

Dorset veterans and their families who are in need, can contact SSAFA’s Forcesline which is confidential and free of the chain of command, either by Freephone on 0800 731 4880 or by emailing the team via www.ssafa.org.uk/gotyourback 

The charity is also asking members of the public who may be concerned about a veteran to encourage them to contact SSAFA Forcesline for help.