Venture Trust’s ‘Transitions’ programme is designed to help young people resident in Foyers to unlock and make the most of their talents – developing confidence and employability, increasing their ability to access local services and establishing sustainable lifestyles.

It is regularly proven to better equip participants with the skills and attributes needed to access employment, education or training, as well as offering a catalytic shift in attitude and perspective that helps participants plan their move into independent accommodation. In order to make the programme more sustainable and to increase its reach, Venture Trust is offering subsidised places on the programme to the entire Foyer network on a first-come-first-served basis.

“We would like to thank you and all the workers involved in the course which has just finished, for the incredible work you have put in with our young residents. They have really enjoyed the time with you and have come back with positive ideas about what they would like to do and how they can work to achieve their goals. We will now work alongside them to put things in place to use their new skills and experience, and I will let you know how they are doing” – Foyer referrer, 2011

Venture Trust’s next personal development course for young people who live in or are supported by a Foyer has been scheduled to start on Friday 30th November and will finish on Sunday 9th December. The course will be based once again from our recently-refurbished centre in Applecross, in the north-west Highlands of Scotland.

We are delighted that our recent courses for Foyer residents have enabled participants to progress into extremely positive outcomes:

• 90% of participants are showing increased self-confidence
• 88% of participants are showing increased employability
• 82% of participants have increased their stability (and/or accommodation status)
• 82% of participants have improved their bonds with community members
• 76% of participants are making better use of community services and opportunities
• 88% of participants have entered education, employment, training or volunteering.

Please note

Demand for places on this programme far exceeds the number of places we have been able to offer in recent years, meaning that many Foyer residents are missing out on the opportunities this programme offers. In order to make best use of scarce funding we have been able to secure for this programme for Foyer residents, from this course onwards we will be asking Foyers to contribute towards the cost of their residents’ participation, thereby enabling us to offer more places to more Foyer residents.

Each place on this programme costs Venture Trust in excess of £3,000, which includes over 180 hours of direct contact time with highly trained staff, the use of specialist equipment and facilities, and all food, fuel, accommodation, insurance and licensing. To make best use of available funds and create as many places on the programme as possible, we are pleased to be able to offer places at a subsidised rate of £1,750 per person.

We appreciate that not all Foyers have access to funding for their residents’ personal development, and we are eager to help Foyers identify potential sources of finance – please contact us to discuss.

For an application form or to find out more, please email allan@venturetrust.org.uk or call 0131 228 7700.