Emotional support for veterans, serving personnel and their families

The Veterans’ Emotional Support Helpline will be discontinued from late March 2026.

If you’re a veteran, serving member of the Armed Forces or a family member and need someone to talk to, Samaritans are still here to support you. Call us free, any time, on 116 123.

Samaritans’ dedicated helpline number for veterans and the wider military community will be discontinued from late March 2026.

People who call the discontinued helpline number after this time will hear a message explaining that the helpline has closed, they will then be invited to call Samaritans’ free national helpline on 116 123, where their call will be answered by a trained Samaritans volunteer.

Why is the dedicated helpline for veterans and the wider military community being discontinued?

The dedicated helpline number for veterans and the wider military community was primarily set up as a result of NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 and was funded by the Afghanistan Veterans’ Fund, established by The Office for Veterans’ Affairs and The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. The helpline received over 10,000 calls between September 2022 and September 2025.

After a rigorous review of our organisational purpose and focus, Samaritans decided that we would not be continuing with this service beyond March 2026 once external funding had come to an end. The benefit of the helpline was that it connected callers to a listening volunteer who had chosen to complete our Armed Forces awareness digital learning module which helped us build a better understanding of the sorts of issues and experiences veterans and other members of the community may have. Therefore, we will be considering whether all listening volunteers should complete this module going forward. The learnings gathered will be transferred and embedded into our national service, so that we can continue supporting members of the military and veterans’ communities in their time of need.