Next Steps

  • self worth
  • Canoe

Key information

Age range: 16+

Location: Across Scotland

Who it's for: Women who've been involved in offending or at high risk of offending.

How to apply

Next Steps is for women whose backgrounds have led to their involvement in offending or to experience homelessness or misuse drugs or alcohol which may impact on their wellbeing, relationships and life circumstances.

After an assessment period we support individuals to identify the changes they want to make in their lives and develop goals to help achieve them. During this period, we offer regular community-based outreach support to identify and mitigate against any barriers prior to offering a 4-day supportive Wilderness Journey usually in the highlands of Scotland.

The Wilderness Journey focuses on supporting individuals to develop the skills and coping strategies to maintain their motivation to implement the changes on their return. Further outreach support back in their local community encourages progression and embedding positive changes.

Our programmes provide support for up to 9 months helping individuals to make and sustain connections to services and employment, education, training or volunteering opportunities within their communities.

** Venture Trust does not currently work with registered sex offenders or those subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA

The programme is proven to enable participants to reduce their risks of re-offending, and make positive changes in their lives and behaviour.

A three-year external evaluation of the Next Steps programme, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, has just been published in March 2018. A summary of the findings can be found here:

Next Steps Executive Summary 2018

Monitoring data from the last five years for Next Steps shows that:

  • 89% of participants showed increased self-confidence
  • 84% improved their employability skill
  • 66% showed behaviours and circumstances likely to reduce risks of reconviction
  • 60% improved their relationships with those around them, and were making increased use of services and opportunities in their community (such as libraries, gyms or doctors' surgeries)
  • More than half of those who completed a wilderness journey progressed into employment, education, training or volunteering.

The full report can be found here.

In 2012 the programme was externally evaluated by the University of Edinburgh, who found that:

“The ‘Next Steps’ programme had a positive effect on participants’ personal and social development. The type of positive life changes the women have made include; abstaining from alcohol; desisting crime and taking up (or trying to find) volunteer or paid work”.

University of Edinburgh evaluation, 2012.

You can download the full report here.

Funding partners

  • The Scottish Government

    The Scottish Government continues to support our Living Wild, Next Steps and Inspiring Young Futures programmes.

    Visit website »

  • European Social Fund

    Funding from the European Social Fund is supporting our four core programmes.

    Visit website »

  • Comic Relief

    Comic Relief is funding our programmes for 16-24 year olds through its "Make Yourself at Home" grant. The funding will be for three years and will help support young people who have previously, or are currently at risk of, experiencing homelessness across Scotland.

    Visit website »

  • Heritage Fund

    The National Lottery Heritage Fund is providing funding to support our Next Steps programme in an exciting project with our partners at Historic Environment Scotland, ‘Understanding Our Place in Time: Women at Risk of Offending Discovering their Place in Heritage’.

  • Pilgrim's Trust

    One of the Pilgrim Trust’s aims is to provide assistance to vulnerable members of society. They do this by supporting projects where their funds will make the greatest impact. Three year funding from The Pilgrim Trust is supporting our work with women caught up in (or at risk of being caught up in) the criminal justice system in Scotland.

    Visit website »

  • The Goldsmiths' Company Charity

    One of The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity’s focus areas is the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners – having supported charities working in this areas for many years. We are delighted to be receiving their support towards Next Steps over a three year period.

    Visit website »

  • The Wise Group

    Venture Trust is working in partnership with The Wise Group to deliver Fair Start Scotland - the Scottish Government's new employability service helping people get into work. It is a collaboration with partners across the West region to deliver tailored one-to-one support for up to 18 months, then further support when a person gets into employment. Visit Website

  • Fair Start Scotland

    Fair Start Scotland is a new service helping people get into work. Working in collaboration with partners across the region to deliver the service, Fair Start offers tailored one-to-one support for up to 18 months, then further support when you get into employment. Visit website

Memberships & awards

  • Living Wage

    The Living Wage Foundation celebrates and recognises the leadership of responsible employers who choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum. Venture Trust is an accredited Living Wage Employer.

    Visit website »

Delivery partners

  • Move On

    We are delighted to be working with Move On in delivering peer mentoring training for our Next Steps and Positive Futures participants. We also work in partnership with Move On to deliver the Reaching Higher programme. Move On’s focus is on supporting people to make positive change in their lives.

    Visit website »

  • Historic Environment Scotland

    We are continuing our partnership with Historic Environment Scotland to deliver two heritage wilderness journeys for women at risk of offending. ‘Understanding Our Place in Time’ will allow participants to explore and understand their place in time in order to move towards a better future.

    Visit website »

  • Shine Women's Mentoring Service

    We're delighted to be a partner in the Shine Women's Mentoring Service - a Public Social Partnership led by Sacro. The service is delivered by SACRO (lead partner), Apex Scotland, Barnardo’s, Circle, The Wise Group, Turning Point Scotland, Access to Industry, Venture Trust. Other partners are Scottish Prison Service, Association of Directors of Social Work and Scotland’s eight Criminal Justice Authorities.

    Visit website »

  • Wise Group

    Venture Trust is working in partnership with The Wise Group to deliver Fair Start Scotland - the Scottish Government's new employability service helping people get into work. It is a collaboration with partners across the West region to deliver tailored one-to-one support for up to 18 months, then further support when a person gets into employment. Visit Website

  • FairStart Scotland

    Fair Start Scotland is a new service helping people get into work. Working in collaboration with partners across the region to deliver the service, Fair Start offers tailored one-to-one support for up to 18 months, then further support when you get into employment. Visit website

If you have a question about Next Steps or want to find out more about being referred to the programme please contact us at hello@venturetrust.org.uk or 0131 228 7700.

To make a referral, please complete our webform:

Secure referral webform

Venture Trust’s new client management system uses SSL encryption to secure all data transfers. This encryption is end-to-end, meaning that your data is encrypted from the instant you submit it. There is no point at which the plain text of your data is accessible to third-parties. Submitted data is held on our secure servers, which can only be accessed by authorised staff via password protection. SSL encryption is the internet standard for secure transfer of information, used by banks, credit card companies, statutory authorities.

However, if your policies require you to use these email systems, you can do so using the email addresses below.

For any queries or additional information, please contact the relevant hub co-ordinator using the details below.

Venture Trust Hub

Area

Hub Co-ordinator

East

Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian, Borders, Fife, Stirling, Falkirk, Clacks.

Dundee, Perth, Angus, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire

 easthub@venturetrust.cjsm.net (secure email)

referralseasthub@venturetrust.org.uk

West

Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Ayrshire(East, North & South), Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, East/West Dunbartonshire, Argyle & Bute

Fair Start Scotland

East or West Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire or Inverclyde

Venture Trust is working in partnership with The Wise Group to deliver Fair Start Scotland - the Scottish Government's new employability service helping people get into work. It is a collaboration with partners across the West region to deliver tailored one-to-one support for up to 18 months, then further support when a person gets into employment

westhub@venturetrust.cjsm.net (secure email)

referralswesthub@venturetrust.org.uk


Does your client meet the criteria for Fair Start Scotland?

Looking for advice?

Looking for advice?

If you'd like to know more about the support we offer.

Find out more »

Meet Lucy

Meet Lucy

and find out where Venture Trust could take you...

Read more »

Sign up for updates

Tell us your email to receive our latest news