A word from the new AFF Chief Executive, Collette Musgrave…

Firstly, a big hello to all army families reading Army&You. I’m very honoured to have recently been appointed as
the new chief executive of the AFF – the independent charity that is your voice.

Being part of an army family for nearly 20 years, I know how important it is to be able to find support and advice from people and organisations who really understand the challenges we can face.

Army families are incredibly resilient, but we can all need a helping hand sometimes. When that helping hand already ‘gets’ how our lives can sometimes be, it can really help to take away some of the stress and worry.

That’s why this edition of A&Y features some of the services available to army families, as well as highlighting our work at AFF.

We have a dedicated and experienced team, who I’ve been proud to have been working with over the last three years. They show their commitment every day, to improving the quality of life for all army families. It has been a challenging year for them, as it has been for you, as they have faced the same uncertainty over assignments,
evacuations from overseas postings and the different lockdown rules across the UK and overseas.

“Army families are incredibly resilient, but we can all need a helping hand sometimes. When that helping hand already ‘gets’ how our lives can sometimes be, it can really help to take away some of the stress and worry.”

As mostly home workers, we’re already familiar with online meetings and not often seeing colleagues in real life – but we’ve had to find new ways of engaging with families, by increasing our social media presence and providing reliable, accessible information online.

We will be building on this experience, as we’re committed to providing you with the information and advice you need, wherever you live and whatever challenges you are facing.

We are changing our team to increase our specialist support, particularly in the areas of housing, education, health and additional needs. We will still be out in the community to speak to face to face – as and when permitted! – but we’re also improving access to us via phone and email. And we’ve updated our enquiries database to ensure that we have strong evidence to influence change, while remaining a confidential service.

We are looking forward to working on your behalf, now and into the future – aff.org.uk.

 

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