Program Spotlight: Supportive Services for Veteran Families
Photo via Imágenes de Gabriel Paz from Canva. To honor the privacy and dignity of those we serve, FrontLine Service does not share client photos or identifying details.
Sev wakes up on the couch in his cousin’s house, checks his phone, and leans back, looking at the ceiling. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and groans, stretching. He knows he’s lucky to have a few friends and family members who have been able to offer him a temporary place to stay for a week or two, but couch surfing for the last four months is getting pretty old. Having a roof over his head is more than a lot of other people in his position can say they’ve got, but having no control over things and no plan to get back into a place of his own makes it hard to stay hopeful. There just seem to be too many unmanageable obstacles and too many things out of his control all at once, and he notices himself using alcohol more and more often to cope. He looks again at the business card his friend Jeremy, whom he’d met while deployed in Afghanistan, gave him. Jeremy told Sev to give the number on the card a call – they’d been able to help him when he had trouble getting caught up on his rent and helped him figure out a plan for making sure he didn’t get into that position again.
The card is for Donta Daniel, Case Manager for the Supportive Services for Veterans and Their Families (SSVF) program at FrontLine Service. Established in 2011, FrontLine’s SSVF program has been working to help stabilize veterans who are in need of assistance for almost 14 years. Daniel, who started at FrontLine in 2023, says a typical day for a case manager in SSVF starts off with checking in on your veterans. This can often be one of the more challenging aspects of the work since many of the clients struggle to keep their phones turned on in the midst of financial hardship and tremendous stress. He recognizes that for this population, asking for help in the first place is a big hurdle to overcome. Keeping the lines of communication open and reliably showing that the support is ready, accessible, and consistent for the vet is essential.
SSVF is divided into three sections: Shallow, Prevention, and Rapid Rehousing. Prevention services include financial assistance with catching up on past-due rent, mediating between the veteran and the landlord, and developing a housing plan to help avoid the same situation recurring. Rapid Rehousing helps veterans and their families quickly re-enter housing after having come to the point of eviction. Daniel says his favorite place to see a client get to is Shallow. Shallow means the client is preparing to “graduate” from the program. They’ve gone through coming up with a plan with their case manager, and gotten back on their feet – they are back in independent housing and are maintaining employment, have demonstrated consistency with household and life skills management, and been connected with the other resources available to them for maintaining mental and behavioral health including treatment and support for substance use challenges; however, the transition back out of the program is complicated. Pulling out all of the supports right away would be too much for a lot of people and lead them right back to where they were in the first place. SSVF allows for a prolonged and gentle transition back out of the program, with Shallow still offering supports like partial rent payment and continued case management until the client is ready and have demonstrated that they can manage without these services.
Sev looks back at the card. He knows that he’s been selfless, worked hard, and risked everything to protect and help even complete strangers on principle. He thinks to himself that maybe it’s not a sign of defeat but a marker of courage that he’s able to say that now he’s the one in need of help. Sev thinks to himself that today is the day to make the call.