URGENT NEED FOR SUPPORT
Rising food and fuel costs, growing skills and attainment gap, and now a recession. It’s hard to think of a time that already disadvantaged communities have been more in need. Add to this the ballooning rate of mental ill-health in these communities and it becomes clear. Not only are our support services needed more than ever, we need to be able to expand their reach to help as many people with our services as possible to divert them away from damaging situations and support them into a more stable and positive future.
Through our Outreach and Therapy services, we provide a lifeline for people struggling with some of life’s toughest challenges and the toll it can take on their mental health - from substance misuse, adjusting to life as a civilian after military service, homelessness, unemployment, social isolation, or involvement in the criminal justice system.
We are facing a mounting mental health crisis in the UK. This crisis disproportionally impacts communities that are already facing increased inequality, and barriers to accessing adequate services.
Mental health services and community support should not be a luxury that people struggling with life’s toughest challenges are forced to go without. Since the pandemic, 90% of those we work with have reported that they are struggling with at least one mental health issue.
Fortunately, we know what we are doing is having a positive impact, with 79% of the people we worked with in 2021/22 across all our programmes reporting improved mental wellbeing. With NHS waiting times to access mental health support services growing, we provide vital alternative frontline services – free at the point of use.
This winter, our focus is building stability by providing:
- Support and guidance in their dealings with substance misuse recovery programmes, the criminal justice system, or social work.
- Guidance, support, advocacy, and signposting participants to achieve a safe living space for themselves.
- Coaching and training on relationships, goals, and employability.
- Direct mental health care with our outdoor therapy service.
We are calling on anyone in a position to help to donate what they can to help us keep safeguard our services, and keep the people we work with supported. We aim to help as many people as we can, so, the more support we are able to generate the more people we are able to help.
MORE ABOUT US
For 40 years, Venture Trust have been supporting those facing some of life's toughest challenges into Scotland’s most inspiring, restorative natural environments.
Our core aim is to enable those facing multiple complex barriers to build stability, overcome challenges, and gain the skills, and perspectives needed to pursue a fulfilling, healthy, happy life. We focus on communities facing heightened inequality and adversity, where the need is greatest.
Amplifying the impact of evidence-based best practice to personal development, community engagement, employability training, and therapy by conducting our programmes in the outdoors and other alternative spaces.
Our approach helps remove many of the implicit biases, power dynamics, and accessibility issues that arise within traditional services, as well as affording some distance from everyday distractions and worries, allowing participants to focus on their own wellbeing and development.
We make our services accessible to those who need them most by operating a wide range of programmes, free at the point of use, across most of Scotland, permeating communities of high deprivation with our dedicated outreach teams, and working extensively with the third and public sectors to identify those most urgently in need of our services.
Our programmes are varied to align our approach to address the differing challenges our distinct participant groups face.
OUTDOOR THERAPY
In 2021, Venture Trust launched Scotland’s first dedicated outdoor therapy service, combining the benefits of clinical psychotherapy sessions with the benefits of time spent in nature, away from traditional clinical settings. This free, confidential service is for 16-25-year-olds and ex-service personnel. With young people making up 70% of clients, it is an essential service that we have been delivering for just over a year in Edinburgh, The Lothians, and Fife with incredible positive impacts.
With an 83.3% reduction in clients reporting severe psychological distress upon exiting the service, we are utterly convinced of the incredible impact that our Outdoor Therapy service is having. As the pioneering practitioners of Outdoor Therapy in Scotland, our aim is for as many people to benefit from it as possible, and to expand the service to a wider area and larger client base - continuing to target areas of multiple deprivation and those who would otherwise face barriers to accessing therapy.
Traditional clinical settings can often be off putting for many, taking the process out of an office and into green and blue spaces, familiar or local to the clients can remove this intimidating barrier and encourage them to relax into the process.
OUTREACH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
We run four different development programmes, each starts with intense stabailising, outreach work in the community:
Living Wild: For those on Community Payback, and other criminal justice orders, who want to move away from offending. We support individuals to address behaviour linked to re-offending, and help build rehabilitating skillsets.
Next Steps: A programme for women involved in, or at risk of involvement in, the criminal justice system. Most are experiencing homelessness, drug or alcohol misuse, and/or social isolation which may impact on their mental health, employment, and
relationships. We aim to build their confidence and stability and support a fresh start.
Inspiring Young Futures (IYF): For those aged 16-25, struggling with unemployment, involvement in offending, anti-social behaviour, substance misuse, and homelessness. We seek to unearth their potential, and equip them with the skills to unlock their future.
Positive Futures: The programme supports veterans who are finding it difficult to transition fully into civilian life and are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, drug or alcohol misuse, social isolation, or involvement in the criminal justice system.