Community Support Handbook
Community Support
The Three Pillars of Social Support
The old welfare system was considered in some detail and it was decided that in terms of social care, things had moved on significantly and that there should be a new system of care that reflected the needs of the modern RAF community and reflected the diverse way it lives today. In order to move from a system of "welfare" to "well-being", it was decided to create the "three pillars of social support". These are:
- Information Support The RAFCOM website has been introduced to impart information to the widest audience as well as the information offered by HIVEs
- Structural Support Community Development workers are linking their efforts directly to the Stns need.
- Personal and Emotional Support Padres and SSAFA offer excellent help and advice to all personnel.
Aims of the RAF Community Support Organisations
The RAF community support strategy is based on five key areas, these are:
- Community Safety. This is the degree of success in the creation of an environment in which community members can move freely without fear of intimidation of physical or psychological harm.
- Health and Well-being. The degree to which members of the community can remain free from health risk behaviours such as stress.
- Positive Family Adaptation. The degree of which the community is able to positively adapt to the pressures caused by the military life cycle.
- Community Satisfaction. The degree to which community members are happy and content with the community that they live in e.g. is where they live a desirable place to live?
- Personal Preparedness. This relates directly to the 'critical connection'. In this environment can serving personnel perform their duties professionally and are they able to ensure that both they and their dependants are as prepared as they can be for the deployment of the serving person.
The Air Force Board has accepted that a 'Critical Connection' exists between the families of Service personnel and retention, readiness and the operational effectiveness of the Service. Current policies underpin the Critical Connection which formally recognises that for Service personnel to be effective the RAF must provide the necessary community support structure for their families. Research has shown that if service personnel take their problems with them on deployment they are preoccupied, make errors and are generally less effective. Therefore the development of a strong sense of community and feeling of well being amongst all service personnel and their families will translate into better levels of readiness, effectiveness and retention. The "Critical Connection" affirms that the support provided for Service Personnel and their dependants is 'core' business and that it is an essential element in the retention of personnel as well as the operational effectiveness of the service.
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