Family and Relationships

At Veterans First Point we understand it is not just about the ex-service person, but also their family that may need help during the transition to a life outside of the military.  

This could be their parents, significant others, children and anyone they may have carer responsibilities for.  

Quite often it may be the person closest who recognises there is an issue which needs to be addressed and can in fact access the relevant and necessary support in resolving it.  

At Veterans First Point, we welcome Veterans' families and would encourage them to come forward and seek advice and support.  There are networks of agencies able to provide specialist support regardless of the issue.  

Listed below are some of the agencies available in the Edinburgh and Lothian area and as you can see, there is a great deal of support out there.  We also run sessions just for partners and family members on a host of subjects.  

We have on site peer support workers if you would like to arrange for a confidential support session.  If you think that your loved one may be suffering in silence, please get in contact and we can arrange for the right support for you and hopefully provide the encouragement for them to come and see us.

Useful Contacts

Relationship Scotland
Tel: 0845 119 2020  

The Spark
Tel: 0845 271 2711   Contact Spark
(Help also provided through The Relationship Hotline)
Tel: 0808 802 2088

UNICEF

Telephone: 0300 330 5580 (Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm)

Text message: 07860 027 540 (UK residents only)

Please note our text service does not receive images

Contact UNICEF

Edinburgh Community Mediation
Tel: 0131 557 2101
  
Edinburgh Careers Council
Tel: 0131 270 6087/6089
email: info@edinburghcarerscouncil.co.uk
 
Children 1st (NSPCC)
Tel: 0808 800 2222
 
Lone Parent Helpline
Tel: 0800 8010 0323
 
Parentline
Tel: 0808 800 2222
Children 1st Parentline
Tel: 0131 446 2300
 
Domestic Abuse Helpline
Tel: 0800 731 6969

Scottish Women's Aid
Tel: 0131 475 2372
 
Women's Aid West Lothian
Tel: 01506 413 721
 
Edinburgh Women's Aid
Tel: 0131 315 8111
 
Midlothian Women's Aid
Tel: 0131 663 9827
 
East Lothian Women's Aid
Tel: 0131 665 1455
 
Children and Families (Social Work)   
Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian out of hours - Tel: 0800 731 6969
 
West Lothian
Tel: 01506 777 401
 
Family Protection Unit 
(East Lothian)
Tel: 0131 654 5528

(Mid-Lothian)
Tel: 0131 316 6600 

(West Lothian)
Tel: 01506 652615 
   
Lothian and Borders Police Force - Communications Centre  
Tel: 0131 311 3131
 
Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland
 
Victim Support
Tel: 0131 668 4486
 
SSAFA Forces Help

Scottish Prisoners Families Helpline
Tel: 0500 839 383

Lastly, as a concerned family member of someone who may be experiencing difficulties, why not suggest a subject or session to us?  We would listen to your ideas and bring together the experts to raise awareness and provide appropriate support tools for you and your loved ones. Feel free to Contact Us.

Social Work Scotland

Social work Scotland’s values are based on professional leadership to achieve social justice and public protection. We value each person we support as an individual, without judgement; we celebrate and actively promote the unique contribution and role of professional social work; we embrace change and encourage collaborative and integrated arrangements to deliver better outcomes for people; and we support and create opportunities for those within and those supporting the profession of social work in order that we can develop effective and creative leaders for the future

Floor 4,
Hayweight House
23 Lauriston Street
Edinburgh
EH3 9DQ

Tel: 0131 281 0853

Childline – ChildLine is a private and confidential service for children and young people up
to the age of nineteen. You can contact a ChildLine counsellor about anything – no problem is too big or too small. Call them free on 0800 1111, have a 1 to 1 chat online or send an email.

One Parent Families Helpline

The One Parent Families Helpline is a helping hand when you need it. Because we cover all of Scotland from John O’Groats to Stranraer, you can reach us by simply dialling 0808 801 0323.

Sometimes, there isn’t an obvious solution to your problem but it does help to talk and we are always ready to listen.

Our small team of dedicated rights workers are trained and have many years’ experience of working with single parents. They are 100% committed to giving you a professional and confidential service when you call the Lone Parent Helpline. This means that what you say is not shared with anyone outside our immediate team. Our calls are not recorded and the information we give you is independent, up-to-date and impartial.

We have extensive resources at our disposal including the ability to do benefit calculations to ensure you are getting all that you are entitled to. On occasion, we will not know the answer to your question. If this is the case, we will know someone who does and we will check it out with them, always protecting your privacy.

At the end of your call we will ask you which local authority you live in and how you heard about the Lone Parent Helpline. We will also ask you if you would like us to phone you back at some point in the future, if you would find this helpful. Sometimes we carry out short surveys about single parents in Scotland and if you have time and it is convenient for you, we may ask you to take part. If we take your name and address because we are sending you some publications or other printed material, we will delete this information unless you give us specific permission to keep it.

We do not want these questions to be intrusive. They permit us to monitor and improve our helpline service and to provide statistical information to our funders. Hearing about your experience of our service is especially helpful – we can only learn from you and we want to get it right!

Contact information:
helpline@opfs.org.uk

13 Gayfield Square
Edinburgh
EH1 3NX

Parentline Scotland

ParentLine is Scotland’s free helpline, email and web-chat service, for anyone caring for or concerned about a child.

Children 1st
83 Whitehouse Loan
Edinburgh
EH9 1AT

Contact us at Parentline Scotland or call us on 0131 446 2300.

Support for young people:

Canongate Youth project (Edinburgh)

http://www.canongateyouth.org.uk/

0131 556 9719

Support for young people who look after someone else at home:

Edinburgh Young Carers

http://www.youngcarers.org.uk/

0131 475 2322

UK Helpline for young people under 25 who don’t know where to turn - Daily 1300 - 2300

Get Connected http://www.getconnected.org.uk/

0808 808 4994 or text: 80849

Support wellbeing of young people in Edinburgh. A place where young men and young women can get confidential support and information on relationships, sexual health and emotional and mental well-being.

Health Opportunities Team (Edinburgh)

http://www.health-opportunities.org.uk/

0131 468 4600

UK Helpline for young people feeling suicidal or those concerned about them

Monday - Friday 1000 - 2200, weekends and Bank Holidays 1400 - 1700

HOPELineUK

http://www.live-lifewell.net/hopelineuk-papyrus/

0800 068 4141

The Junction is a safe, friendly, confidential centre which offers lots of health-related services, education and support for young people in Leith and North East Edinburgh aged 12-21.

The Junction (Leith)

http://the-junction.org/

0131 553 0570

To find out what's happening locally, simply click on your nearest area https://www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/youth-groups.

There you'll find a range of youth groups, projects, local events, as well as one to one services and advice.

Tuesday and Wednesday 1200- 2100

LGBT Health and Wellbeing helpline

http://www.lgbthealth.org.uk/helpline/

0300 123 2523

Useful websites:

www.chooselife.net   National Choose Life strategy website

www.bigwhitewall.com  Online community of support with professional guidance

http://studentsagainstdepression.org/ Information and resources for students and carers

Carers Scotland (part of Carers UK) have put together a fact sheet for carers living in Scotland has a guide to getting help:

https://www.carersuk.org/files/section/5978/assessmentsscotlandsc1020-april2020-212.pdf

For further information please also see their main page: 

https://www.carersuk.org/scotland

Or give them a call on 0808 808 7777