‘Sleep Well’ initiative to embed suicide prevention for Glasgow veterans

08 March 2025

Glasgow’s Helping Heroes (GHH), a partnership between SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity and Glasgow City Council, is launching ‘Sleep Well’ to prevent veteran suicide by providing mental health and specialist housing and financial support.  As well as providing support at GHH, staff will also run a number of “surgeries” for those experiencing homelessness at key locations.   

With 45 per cent of homeless people reporting mental health problems, mental health and homelessness can become a vicious cycle. The GHH team is comprised of housing and mental health specialists who work together to tackle that cycle within Glasgow’s veteran population, and “Sleep Well” will provide the team with greater access to veterans who may be homeless, or who are at risk of becoming homeless.   

Funded through a grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s Embedding Prevention of Veteran Suicide programme, the Trust supports the Armed Forces Covenant by delivering funding programmes that create real change for Armed Forces communities in the UK. The two-year programme will see GHH team members attend various organisations, including Simon Community, Erskine, Scottish Veteran’s Residences and HMP Barlinnie on a weekly or monthly basis to provide on-site support to veterans. 

Ryan MacDonald, Operations Manager at Glasgow’s Helping Heroes, said: “Even the prospect of homelessness is devastating for most, leading to detrimental and severe impacts on mental health, including suicide ideation. Sometimes, we can prevent homelessness from occurring entirely, and that is what we hope to do more often through ‘Sleep Well’. 

“With our specialist focus on the veteran community in Glasgow, we are hoping to shorten periods of homelessness for any veterans who may already find themselves without a place to call their home. The “Sleep Well” initiative is also for any veteran experiencing poor mental health or suicide ideation and our small and friendly team are ready to provide a warm welcome.”