By Lesley Walsh
THE dedication of those championing veterans’ interests in Northern Ireland has been recognised at the highest levels in the UK government.
Strangford MP, Jim Shannon, made the comment as he visited Portavogie for the official announcement of the latest initiative by the locally-based Beyond the Battlefield veterans’ charity.
The DUP politician welcomed a £300,000 grant to support the charity’s wraparound care service for veterans – Enhance – which will enable its Harbour House centre, which is staffed during the day, to provide a 24/7 support network after hours.
The programme is supported by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and is part of a UK- wide investment of almost £3m, with Beyond the Battlefield being awarded the funding to deliver the Northern Ireland strand of this work.
The New Harbour Road centre, transformed from a once derelict building, offers shelter to homeless ex-service personnel and those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It offers counselling for them and their families, assists with war pensions and benefits access and funerals, and helps them into housing when they are ready to move on.
Mr Shannon was at Friday’s launch of the new Enhance programme, attended by Annemarie Hastings, Beyond the Battlefield’s chief executive officer, and its chairman, Robert McCartney, and local aldermen Robert Adair and Trevor Cummings.
The MP said Harbour House was something he had ‘been pushing for’ in recent years and said the funding was testament to the hard work of the charity.
“Today, I think this grant from central government at Westminster is an indication that Beyond the Battlefield’s work has been recognised at the highest level.
“I want to give special thanks to Annemarie and Robert who have always been here for veterans and for knowing what the sector needs.”
Noting their personal experience with veterans and the challenges they face, he said: “What we have here, is soldiers helping soldiers.
“They are suffering from PTSD, have disabilities and a range of complex health challenges and what Beyond the Battlefield provides, with its services, is a safe environment,” he said. “That’s key and that’s what we need in Northern Ireland for veterans.”
Mr Shannon said he hoped the investment would assist with plans for the future expansion of the service, within the Harbour house building itself, which offered the potential to convert more of its space into more extra living quarters ‘some time in the near future’.
He further commended the centre’s Rendezvous Cafe which was a ‘smart’ way of generating income to support for the charity’s wider services, while also creating jobs for local people.
Mrs Hastings said the programme was designed to meet Northern Ireland’s veterans’ ‘unique challenges’.
“Many still live with the trauma of service during the Troubles and the years that followed the Good Friday Agreement, often in silence.
“Added to this are issues of stigma, security concerns, and fragmented services, which mean that too many veterans here slip through the net. Enhance has been designed to address these specific barriers and create a coordinated, veteran-led response,’ she said.
The Enhance programme will offer 24/7 supported accommodation at Harbour House for up to 16 veterans at any one time, with trained welfare staff on site; Northern Ireland’s first veterans homelessness helpline, accessible to veterans and professionals’ day and night; specialist trauma-informed counselling, including PTSD and addiction support; outreach across all 11 council areas, ensuring veterans everywhere can access help, plus a co-ordinated system of support between NIHE, councils, PSNI, probation, the veterans’ voluntary sector and health trusts.
