Availability : Edinburgh Wide
Who is this for?
- Venture Scotland is currently onboarding young people aged 16-25 (26 if care experienced). Anyone that fits in the 25-30 yr old age bracket will be assigned to a waiting list and contacted should our funding and outreach change.
Description
Venture Scotland’s Journey Programme is a free, long-term, personal development programme based in the outdoors. The Programme is for anyone who is facing challenges and looking for support to make positive changes to their wellbeing.
The programme currently runs over 12 weeks, with a few meetings taking place beforehand to help prepare a young person for the start date. The programme takes place on Mondays and Tuesdays and involves a half-day session and a full day of heading out for an activity.
The outdoor activities include:
- Team building activities
- Raft building
- Rock climbing
- Hill walking
- Geocaching
- Orienteering
- Canoeing
- Gorge walking
- Weaselling (squeezing through small spaces of overground rock tunnels)
- Coasteering (jumping from the coast into the sea).
All of Venture Scotland’s activities are ‘challenge by choice’, which means that as long as you are willing to participate in some way, you can get involved at various levels. Everyone’s comfort zone is different!
The half day is spent near to the Venture Scotland offices, usually in a local park, and is focussed on skills and wellbeing. These sessions include learning new theories and tools that will help participants to understand and maintain their mental, physical and emotional health, and create lasting change in participants lives.
In addition to the 2 days each week, each stage of the programme includes a residential trip, usually to a bothy. Bothies were once used by shepherds and groundskeepers, but are now used by hikers and groups. They are simple cottage-like structures that provide shelter from the elements and have sleeping platforms, fireplaces, and a loo. They are usually found in beautiful and remote settings, nestled in the hills, and are a great base in which to connect with nature and disconnect from some of the stressors of day-to-day life. Venture Scotland uses private bothies in The Borders and Glen Etive. Residential trips are between 3-5 days and are a highlight of the VS experience!
Everything that Venture Scotland do is about personal development. Each stage of the programme is designed to help develop certain skills. These include building:
- Confidence
- Communication
- Trust
- Self-belief
- Positive relationships
- Empathy
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- The ability to learn from experiences.
Their programmes begin at various points throughout the year, but their waiting list is always open. If you would like to refer yourself or someone you know and to get the most up-to-date information on referral criteria, please contact our Outreach and Support Worker. For Edinburgh: 07535 164 285
How do I access this?
- Self referral
- Referral by third party
Is there a cost?
Free
Is there a waiting list?
Yes
Location information
- Public parking available
- Close to Easter Road and Abbeyhill high street for multiple bus routes that travel across the city.
