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Annual Report & Accounts

2018 - 2019

Organisation Details

Organisation Perth Six Circle ProjectAultbea House3 Edinburgh RoadPerth PH2 8ATTel. 01738 445384E Mail [email protected] www.perthsixcircleproject.co.uk

Committee Members Gordon Hunter (Convenor)Ian Riley (Treasurer)Helen RichardsonDavid Penman (resigned 2018)Trish Allan (Observer - Current PKC Monitoring Officer) James Moir (joined May 2019)

Service User Representative(s) Patrick Lee Steven Simpson Marc Irvine (ex-service user)

Staff Team Marlow Clark (Project Manager)Kevin MacQueen (Project Coordinator) Julia Brown (Development Worker)Denny Cormack (Support & Development Worker)Sharon Feeney (Support & Development Worker-Joined May 2018)

Sam Cassels (Support & Development Worker) Lesley Jeffrey (Project Coordinator) (Left May 2018)Elizabeth Fotheringham (Volunteer) Pilvi Ruohonen (Volunteer)Alan D’Ambrosio (Volunteer)Demelza Gow (Social Work placement student-Jan to May 2019)

SCIO Charity Number SC029880

Auditors Chris Smith LCIEIndependent Examiner, Charity Advisor & TrainerGlascairn CottageAytounhillCuparFife KY14 6JH

Accountant Taybank TaxationProspect Business CentreGemini CrescentDundee DD2 1TY

Principal Bankers The Royal Bank of Scotland plcDunkeld RoadPerth

Funders The Big Lottery Fund Page | 2

Perth and Kinross CouncilIntroduction Perth Six Circle Project, located within Perth & Kinross and established in 1997, supports adults who experience disadvantages, mainly as a result of challenging circumstances such as mental health, substance misuse, prison experience, unemployment, isolation, loneliness as well as learning difficulties. Service users’ are empowered to reach their full potential through engaging in a wide range of activities designed to improve social, practical and personal skills. The aim of the Project is to support service users’ individual needs, raise awareness of local support services and resources, and enhance their confidence to access these when needed. Delivering activities within the local and wider community help create a greater sense of belonging and social inclusion, thus maintaining the whole philosophy, envisioned by founder Charles Hills, that ‘society should seek to minimise isolation and discrimination where it exists, so that equal opportunity, one of the principal tenets of social justice, is available to all’. In his mind, our motto "In meeting the needs of others, we meet the needs in ourselves" and our logo - 6 interlinking rings - represents ‘hope’ and recognition to people, that regardless of the nature of their need, whether physical, mental, social, emotional or other, Six Circle is a place where they will find mutual support and respect. This continues the ethos of Perth Six Circle Project practice to this day.

Project ServicesThe Project offers service users’ the opportunity to enhance their practical, social and communication skills, build self-esteem, develop confidence and lead healthier more independent lives through our 3 core programmes - Community Enhancement, Living Independently and Personal Wellbeing and the additional Broadening Horizons activities – are offered over all three programmes. A wide range of methodologies are used to design, develop and deliver workshops & activities to meet current service users’ learning and development needs. With the focus on improving service users’ quality of life all workshops & activities are facilitated to ensure transfer of learning to their daily lives.

To support service users’ reach their potential, a Key Worker is allocated to assist them create and implement a personal action plan and provide one to one emotional, psychological and practical support. Through attending the Project and engaging in group learning & development activities brings structure to service users’ lives and leads to: increased motivation; a sense of belonging; reduced feeling of loneliness & isolation. To ensure those who have concerns or worries have someone to talk to out of hours, the Project Manager, a qualified counsellor, offers ‘Talking Therapy’ which helps ensure ‘thinking or situations’ do not escalate and become unmanageable. For a year after moving on from the Project outreach services continue to be available for those in need of advice, guidance and support. The Projects holistic approach to supporting service users assists in prevention of the ‘revolving door of crisis and crime’ and improved physical and mental wellbeing. Project staff supported service users’ improve their quality of life through helping them identify and realise a wide range of personal goals. This was achieved through providing person centred one to one advice and guidance on areas including: weight management; healthy eating; budgeting; personal shopping; and completing forms. It was further achieved through working in partnership and supporting service users: access external support services; source volunteering opportunities; manage emotions & stress; overcome fears & anxieties; and participate in new social opportunities.

The Community Enhancement Programme is designed to develop service users’ skills and knowledge through participation in practical tasks. Over the past year many of the activities took place within the local community and have included: gardening; clearing pathways; fence painting, de-cluttering and working with the Green Space Rangers. Service users’ were given the platform to plan, organise and create different opportunities - in and around the Project, and some of the ideas they embarked upon included: re-commissioning a space - for social activities/interaction and

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decorating to suit new purpose; and planting vegetables - within Project garden, through our “learn as you grow” workshops. This programme created excellent opportunities both individually and as a group and led to enhancing a range of service users’ skills including teamwork, communication, confidence, planning, problem solving and much, much more. One of the most important things service users say they got from participating in these was feeling a sense of achievement and belonging.

The Living Independently Programme aims to enable service users to lead more independent lives within the community. This is achieved through providing various group workshops and activities - Healthy Eating workshops; Budgeting; Taste Testing; Learn as you Grow; Cooking; and Baking………….. all of which helped enhance skills and knowledge. As many service users present with complex issues and challenges, experienced staff have observed that they participate best in smaller group situations and therefore workshops and activities were adapted to accommodate this when appropriate.

To ensure service users are aware of external agencies, that support independent living, a number of workshops were arranged and others signposted (more information on this is noted further on in this Report).

To further enhance independent living skills it is important that service users try ‘things’ out with their comfort zone. With this in mind the staff team organised a range of opportunities with specific outcomes in mind and a couple of examples highlighted this.

Visit to Edinburgh Food Markets - where learning focussed on purchasing and trying ‘new cultural foods and managing busy environments’

Formal Dinner – where service users ‘increased their social etiquette and interaction with others in a formal environment’

Loch Leven boat trip – where service users were required to ensure their own, and others, personal welfare through implementing ‘safety practices’

Direct observations have highlighted the huge learning curve made by service users and their individual feedback has confirmed these. Referral agencies have also observed these and like Project staff, it has been a joy to witness.

The Personal Wellbeing Programme aims to improve overall health and wellbeing of service users, many of whom are overweight & lethargic due to barriers including: lack of knowledge & understanding; medication; poor lifestyle choices; and poor eating habits. It is further aimed at helping remove psychological barriers that prevent them moving on positively with their lives.

We ‘kick’ started this year by participating in a joint working opportunity with the SAINTS coaches which was met with great enthusiasm. This was a three-week programme where the group participated in basketball, circuit and football sessions - where they enhanced a range of skills including communication and teamwork. Service users thoroughly enjoyed these opportunities and were ecstatic to be awarded a certificate at the end!

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A wide variety of activities and workshops - applying a range of methodologies – was also delivered and took place both indoors and outdoors. These provided team, competitive, holistic & therapeutic opportunities (one to one support provided for some) and included: Tennis; Lawn Bowls; Relaxation – Yoga, Swimming and Sauna; Healthy eating workshops, walks and the all ability bikes at Live Active…. To encourage service users to step out of their comfort zone and increase their awareness of social and participative opportunities within the community, the group participated in a wide range of opportunities including a Circus workshop at Pitlochry Theatre. They also visited a number of local attractions, with both Pitlochry dam and Piperdam being very memorable days. Other opportunities - attending the local cinema and going out for tea, resulted in much excitement!

The Project is delighted to have set up a partnership agreement with Live Active Perth, which enabled service users to access their wide range of facilities at a reduced rate. These local facilities are aimed at improving both physical and mental wellbeing, during which, staff provided group and one to one support and encouraged individuals to access these out with Project times.

Broadening Horizons activities were encompassed throughout all three core programmes. These opportunities were designed to encourage service users to try new activities, in unfamiliar environments and particularly those out with their comfort zone. In addition to this, these provided service users with opportunities to meet and mix with service users who attended different programmes. As a result, excellent connections and peer to peer support evolved and it was a delight to observe the excitement and friendships grow. Some of the activities that facilitated this growth included: Edinburgh Christmas markets; Loch of the Lowes; Deep Sea World; Blair Drummond Safari Park; South Queensferry Boat Trip; St Andrews; Norrie Miller light show and eating out.

Staff observed the social and learning benefits these opportunities provided and to explore this further held service user strategic meetings. The feedback received reinforced staff observations, with service users stating that these helped reduce feelings of loneliness and social isolation and requested more social opportunities. As a result, more opportunities were offered and funding to support this was explored and helped shape the new direction of Project services.

Our Annual Learning & Development Event was designed to bring service users, across all groups together, particularly as many attend different groups and had not met one another. The event was also designed to help forge new relationships and participate in activities out with comfort zones. It was also offered to service user who no longer attend the Project but were still receiving one to one support.

The first day’s activities were land based, designed to challenge and develop communication, planning, team work and problem solving.

The second day’s activities were water based and much more challenging, designed to build on strengths, learned from the previous day’s activities, and offer natural opportunities for peer to peer support. These were aimed at enhancing trust, confidence, decisiveness, managing negative encounters and overcoming fears.

The event was a huge success, with full participation, partly due to peer support and the way the activities were tailored to fit the needs of service users. A fundamental element of the design was to ensure enjoyment was had, along with a personal learning curve, and from observations and feedback this was very evident.

To celebrate the success of the event and to provide opportunity for direct observation to assess service user progress, everyone put on their smart clothes and went for a meal at a local restaurant. It was a Page | 5

pleasure to watch the interactions, new friendships and relationships form and listen to the excitement about individual and team achievements.

As a result of this event staff recognise the need to design and deliver activities which build resilience and feedback from service users confirmed this and state they are excited about future events!Convenor’s Report

Have you ever had to watch a children’s film hundreds of times because your son, daughter, niece, nephew, husband, wife etc. loved it? In fact, sometimes you’ve watched it so much, that in the end you really start disliking it just through familiarity?

My sick of film is “The Lion King” and for me, the problem is the Circle of Life song. I mean it’s a great song, but I honestly don’t ever want to hear it again. And that is a shame. It’s a brilliant, catchy, soaring tune, with nice and relevant lyrics, sung by an

international superstar, but enough please and I don’t want to see the apparently more realistic remake movie that’s coming out either.

It’s not that I don’t like life, I love it and in fact I plan to hang around for a while if that’s ok. I admit it took nearly losing it to appreciate it fully, as I’d perhaps got a bit blasé about the whole living thing and it turns out its pretty great being alive isn’t it. Illness, loss and death can be awful, and at times it can almost be unbearable to think about. But to die you must have first lived.

And as for circles, well I rather like them too. They are indefinite and endless but not in a “will this opera never end” sort of way, more in they keep going sort of way and in many ways, circles are completing and yet in other ways they are always starting again.

Now circles don’t have a start that is visible, nor an end that’s visible either and that is I’d argue pretty great too, because it is a constant and a comfort and probably why the greatest know symbol of marriage is the wedding ring.

So, what has this to do with Six Circle? Well for me it is about Circles and about life and maybe it’s about the Project being a bigger influence in people’s lives than perhaps we have ever acknowledged. I mean I don’t think it’s’ an exaggeration to say that it changes lives every day and not always just those who have come through the doors as service users, but staff, volunteers, former students on placement and committee members past and present alike.

I also don’t think it is an exaggeration to say it saves lives too. If you are facing social isolation and loneliness and perhaps are battling mental health issue at the same time, if this Project gives you the strength, or the tools, skills, abilities or whatever word you wish to choose to describe being able to cope and thrive, then you have to admit it saves your life and I think we need to acknowledge that. It helps people live!

Sometimes when going around in our circles of changing committee members - our Committee Member David has resigned due to work commitments and we thank him for his contributions - or staff, endless funding battles and occasional strains with other organisations, we may often see, but don’t always absorb, the greatness that surrounds us.

Because of that problem, of endlessly spinning so fast, that we can’t focus on what is around us, I was delighted when our local MP and MSP, along with Lottery representatives, recently visited the Project, because let me tell you the Project shone. I loved that day. I really loved that day and skipped away at the end having been of absolutely no use in any way and I mean no use at all. Well other than making a very good cake for the competition, which was immediately banned for some reason.

I loved it because the Project just lit up and there was laughter, interest, enthusiasm, passion, engagement, rampant cheating at Jenga and reminders of what it achieves every day and I have never felt so proud.

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So thank you visitors. By helping you see us, we saw ourselves and we look awesome!

Gordon HunterConvenor

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Project Manager’s Report

I am thrilled to report another excellent year for Perth Six Circle Project. Busy, challenging and demanding all come to mind. On the other hand, enthusiasm, dedication, commitment and teamwork helped the staff team survive! Lesley has moved on to new ventures and we thank her for her contribution. Sam and Sharon joined the staff team early last year and have brought a good array of skills and qualities, which the team have embraced. Service users were involved in their recruitment process and are reaping the rewards of their decisions.

If you have read any of my previous reports, you will know that ‘change’ is a continued theme in the Project. Each time a new service user joins the Project the dynamics of the groups change and for some, any change can set them into a spiral of alarm, dread or anxiety. Towards the end of this financial year, the knowledge that change-in Project direction was afoot, set some into panic mode. Many discussions had taken place, nevertheless for some, distress and then retreat, was an initial reaction and had a negative impact on the groups. It has taken intensive one to one staff support to help service users cope with this and as a result we are seeing some progression.

This said, it is change that helps service users adapt to life’s challenges and keeps the staff team developing new and innovated ideas. After consultation with and listening to service user requests, changing some activities - to more social focus, was met with full approval and was the main reasons for seeking funding to develop this approach more fully. My commitment to write full and comprehensive funding applications was supported directly by my colleague Julia and to allow this, our colleagues – Kevin, Denny, Sam and Sharon took on additional responsibilities and our dedicated volunteers Elizabeth, Pilvi and Aldo, along with our student, Demelza supported them. Our commitment and efforts to produce excellent applications did not go unnoticed, as we received extremely positive feedback regarding their standard and detailed information they contained. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the team for their support and contributions to these applications, as together we have developed some amazing future programmes. I also want to thank those Funding Officers, who provided guidance and support, throughout the process, and acknowledge how invaluable this was to our success.

Over the years we have built valuable working relationships with a range of organisations and personnel and I am very grateful for their contribution. Our valued Practice Educator, Hilary Wright, sadly passed away this year and we miss her deeply. I am also very grateful for our continued relationship with Scottish Prison Service, who support the Projects endeavours, particularly with our residency at Aultbea House, which continues to meet our evolving needs.

I know there is great demand for our Project’s services and it would be impossible to continue delivering this without the support and faith of our funders and of course our management committee–who are always on hand, and for this I am enormously thankful.

Six Circle was founded fifty years ago this year and we hope to celebrate this, in some way. Barbara Hills, daughter of our founder Charles Hills, set up a ‘Just Giving’ page to raise funds for the Project, in memory of her father’s good work. Barbara and her family, Roger and Charlie, ran the Bristol 10k and have made good progress fundraising. Staff, committee and service users give thanks for this generosity. She tells me her family had ‘faith’ in their father’s visions and they are delighted that this ethos continues!

Gail Devers - three-time Olympic 100 Meter Champion said, and I quote “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination and dedication”. I have real faith that with the support of funders, the management committee and my colleagues, we shall continue Charles’s work perhaps beyond even his expectations.

Marlow Clark Project Manager

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Treasurer’s Report

As Treasurer, my role within the Project is to oversee all aspects of the financial management, working closely with the other members of the Management Committee to safeguard the organisations finances.

Financial ResultsThe financial results for period 1st April 2018– 31st March 2019 are set out in the externally examined and signed Income & Expenditure Account at the end of this

report. These accounts comply with current statutory requirements, the Constitution and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities and OSCR.

Financial ReviewThe Project continues to operate a robust financial management system, capturing income and expenditure, ensuring cash flow is managed effectively, and this system was implemented throughout 2018-2019 and resulted in the Project staying within budget.

A copy of the full signed accounts is available on request from the Project.

Income for the period was £162,121 (2018: £149,517). Principal funders were The BIG Lottery and Perth & Kinross Council. With expenditure of £157,773 (2017: £156,329) the charity had a surplus of £4,348 (2018: a deficit of £6,812). At the 31 March 2019 the charity had total funds of £94,874 (2018: £90,526), of which £12,425 (2018: £17,259) were restricted and £82,449 (2018: £73,267) were unrestricted.

Reserves PolicyThere is a reserves policy in place that aims to provide sufficient unreserved funds to continue existing activities for a period of six months. This would allow a period to consider the way forward for the Project; how the funding could be replaced or activities adapted to maintain the service provided. The management committee considers that the amount needed to continue existing activities for six months to be £78,000. With free reserves held at 31 March 2019 of £82,449 Perth Six Circle Project has exceeded this target.

FutureThe project has managed to secure further BIG Lottery Funding totalling £257,000. This will cover the majority of the funding we need for the next three years. Further funding has been secured from the Corra Foundation and Perth & Kinross Council and other funding is still being sought in order to provide the full range of services we had planned to do.

Ian RileyTreasurer

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Service User Representative Reports (in their own words)

Hi! We are Patrick and Steven, the current Service User Representatives and Committee Members.

Our roleAlong with Marc, an ex-service user and Committee Member, our role is to listen to suggestions and feedback from the service users regarding various topics and put them forward to the staff members and the rest of the Management Committee. We also meet and socialise with other groups. Having spoken to the service users, the general feedback is that they like coming to the Project to meet and talk with other Service Users.

It is especially appreciated that the activities are various and that there is something for everyone. Staff is very helpful, and there is a general feeling of everyone being together as a big group of friends. At the Project, all of the Service Users seem to benefit from the activities by gaining more self-confidence, social skills and general life skills.

The Project run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We went for example canoeing and did a survival course, and also went to the theatre in Pitlochry! The activities were quite various and entertaining. The favourites were going to the Piperdam activity centre to play human football, and going to the Blair Drummond Safari Park (and especially the zip line was fun!). The Loch Leven cycling trip was definitely one of the highlights as well. We learned a lot of new skills and enhanced old skills (e.g. social communication and cooking) via the Community Enhancement, Living Independently, and Personal Wellbeing groups. We are looking forward to this year as well.

Since starting to come to the Project, we have become more busy and active, and gained skills and self-confidence in communicating with other Service Users as well as the public. Being a service user Representative is great because of us feeling trusted and appreciated by the other service users. We enjoy coming to the Project and helping others, and we are grateful for the staff for supporting us.

On a personal note“I was a bit lost and lonely before joining the Project. It has been a life-line for me, keeping me together, being there for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their support, as they have done so much for me. It has helped me meet people and makes you feel like you are part of a family” Patrick

“Before joining the Project, I heard some of the guys talk about the six circle project that they attended and how much they enjoyed it and that it was of a great benefit to them. I looked into attending the project and at that point in time, my self-esteem was at its lowest. It was explained what I would get out of the project and that by helping others would help my confidence and my self-esteem.

My first couple of weeks at the Project I spent my time trying to blend in and I wasn’t very talkative, but as time went by I became more confident and started to speak to the other service users. During that process I saw that there were others that were less fortunate than myself and that I did have plenty to be thankful for. As time went by I started to go out on day trips with the project to places I hadn’t been before and this helped me with being in busy and crowded places. At this point I wasn’t feeling confident in myself in public places as this was something that I didn’t have a large amount of experience with.

I learned future skills in how to stand on my own two feet when I get my future home. So a year and half later I feel that my confidence has improved and I have learned to like myself again. Now I feel comfortable in most if not all social environments and this has been down to the work that I have done at the project. Staff are now supporting me to move on to new ventures.” Steven

Thank you!

Patrick Lee and Steven SimpsonCommittee MembersPage | 10

Volunteer Feedback (in her own words)

I started volunteering at Perth Six Circle Project while being on my fourth year of university. I was looking for work experience in order to apply for a master’s degree in Forensic Psychology. Volunteering at the Project once a week has been a very positive experience from the very beginning – everyone welcomed me straight away, and I feel like I can be completely myself here. The Six Circle Project is like a one happy family, including both service users (SU) and staff members. My role is to be part of the group activities, have one-to-one supports with some of the service users, and write activity, SU representative and strategic meeting reports.

In the beginning I was a bit nervous about being able to meet the expectations, but soon realised that just by doing my best, all my efforts are more than appreciated, which makes me feel good about my work and leaves me with a happy, positive feeling every time in the end of the day. I have learned a lot about working with different types of people with different kinds of challenges. Especially working one-to-one with one of the SU’s, helping him to write a self-representation letter to the parole board, has been a very valuable experience. I have come to a point, though, where I have stopped thinking about what I get out of this experience, but rather enjoy helping others and see that as the purpose of my volunteering.

I am happy about being given this opportunity, and being made feel part of the Project. For example, I was asked to plan an 'All About Finland'-day, which I was delighted to do. I felt like I was appreciated as an individual and my background was an item of interest, a strength, rather than anything less. I am especially pleased with the trust I’ve received and confidence the staff have put in me, being allowed and expected to work independently – yet support is always available if I need it.

In addition, understanding the 'Scottish English' has been quite a challenge since arriving to Scotland, but my language skills have improved massively since volunteering at Six Circle via communicating with and supporting the service users. I can see this benefiting me greatly in my future studies and living in the UK. Lastly, I want to mention that a major plus in this volunteering experience is that there is no boring day at the Project, and participating in the group activities is also one of the highlights of my week.

PilviVolunteer

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Project Outcomes and Achievements 2018-2019

Over the course of this year 29 service users have been supported by the ProjectService users have reduced social isolation and are more confident to engage with local and wider communityChange Indicators Amount of Change By When How much change has happened so far?Staff report 18 service users demonstrating improved communication and social skills.

18 per year End of project 27 service users demonstrated improved communication and social skills.

18 service users report improved confidence & self-esteem.

18 per year End of project 26 service users reported improved confidence & self-esteem.

Staff report 18 service users demonstrating ability to make and maintain positive peer relationships.

18 per year End of project 27 service users demonstrated ability to make and maintain positive peer relationships.

Service users gain skills and knowledge to live independently within their local communityChange Indicators Amount of Change By When How much change has happened so far?Staff report 18 service users demonstrating improved practical skills and knowledge.

18 per year End of project 26 service users demonstrated improved practical skills and knowledge.

18 service users report improved understanding of safe household management practices.

18 per year End of project 22 service users reported improved understanding of safe household management practices.

18 service users report feeling better supported to access a full range of appropriate support services.

18 per year End of project 22 service users reported feeling better supported to access a full range of appropriate support services

Service users gain knowledge and confidence to access a full range of servicesChange Indicators Amount of Change By When How much change has happened so far?18 service users report enhanced financial skills & knowledge.

18 per year End of project 23 service users reported enhanced financial skills & knowledge.

Staff report 18 service users demonstrating improved awareness and confidence to access services.

18 per year End of project 22 service users demonstrated improved awareness and confidence to access services.

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Added Value

Throughout the year, in addition to the outcomes achieved above, service users further enhanced a range of skills and knowledge over a range of areas. These achievements were observed by staff, students & volunteers, during workshops and activities, and through keyworker discussions. These are recorded within our statistics spreadsheet.

Noted below are some examples of these achievements:

21 service users improved their: trust, confidence, decisiveness, social networking & community integration; and positively managed negative encounters.

This helped service users become more assertive & confident, effectively manage negative encounters, and helped prevent crisis situations arising.

17 service users participated in: new & alien social experiences within the local and wider community; and attended a wide range of cultural & educational events.

These opportunities helped service users become more comfortable and confident, within new social situations, and as a result encouraged participation. Attending cultural and educational events helped break down negative thoughts, opinions and judgements.

20 service users participated in budgeting and personal finance workshops including: benefits information sessions, organising personal finances; budgeting for external learning & development events/trips; returning unwanted/unnecessary items; and purchasing ingredients for cooking.

This helped service users manage their finances and reduced the risk of debt and financial worries whilst living within their means

19 service users have participated in weight management workshops including: the Eat Well Plate; weight management; portion control; alternative healthy food choices; diet plans and goal setting.

This helped service users plan and eat a healthy balanced diet, which in turn supports leading a healthier more active & independent life. Those who have dietary requirements (e.g. gluten free, diabetes etc.) were supported to obtain information and advice about their condition.

Throughout the year, eight service users have moved on from the Project: 1 is living independently 7 left for other reasons (medical, personal, returned to hospital due to poor mental health).

In addition to this, the staff team supported a number of individuals to attend and participate in a wide range of volunteering and placement opportunities, some of whom continue to attend the Project. To help them manage the transition, their individual Key Workers provided ongoing advice, guidance and support.Page | 13

Unexpected Outcomes

There are always unexpected outcomes, too many to list, however, a few that were achieved are worth a mention.

Project garden – last year service users embraced the challenge of building raised beds for the Project garden. Utilising these continued throughout this year, for activities and workshops, which was met with overwhelming excitement. This provided the opportunity to transform an unused space and with staff support they developed a “Learn as you grow” project with each group being allocated specific responsibilities. To encourage participation, some healthy competitiveness was brought about by the ‘Who Could Grow the Largest Sunflower from Seed’ competition, that created in-depth discussions, interactions and team work which led to great results and an overall sense of achievement. In addition, this practical activity lent itself very well to opportunities for social interaction and was found, by service users, to be very therapeutic.

Individual outcomes - there was a vast array of unexpected outcomes for individuals including:

Service user A - During the annual two-day learning & development event direct observations highlighted a range of learning & development needs, some of which required one to one and intensive support. One in particular was the anxiety and panic brought about during water based activities. Exploring this with their Key Worker, it was identified that the individual had a negative encounter with water and had developed severe anxiety when showering. Their anxieties with water led to irregular washing and as a result, their personal hygiene declined.

The Project supported them one to one to reduce their anxiety and regain their confidence with water through providing reassurance and helping them develop coping techniques. This was achieved through using the Projects shower, accessing the local leisure pool and referring them to an Occupational Therapists.

Service user B - Project staff observed the challenges and difficulties one service user experience when attending group activities which resulted in them appearing to behave irrationally. The individual had no trust in services due to feelings of being let down in the past and “people not understanding” them. To help them, intense one to one support was put in place to develop their communication skills, understanding, anxiety, stress and behaviours.

During staff case meetings it was proposed that the individual was presenting with autistic characteristics and it was agreed an assessment and diagnosis would be of value to the staff team but more importantly to the individual. The Project worked in partnership with other organisations and health professionals to ensure the individual was supported throughout the Autism assessment process - which took over a year. They found the process extremely challenging but when they received their Autism diagnosis they let out a huge sigh of relief and dropped to their knees and stated that for the first time in their life they “felt understood”!

Having developed trust, rapport and an understanding of the individual’s needs the staff team provided tailored support and watched, with delight, the immense learning and personal development they have achieved!

Service user C - In last year’s Annual Report, we highlighted that a service users faced problems with their neighbour which directly impacted on their mental wellbeing. This year we are delighted to report that they made good progress and have developed in terms of their skills and confidence.

They were offered the opportunity and responsibility for various tasks in and around the Project including maintaining the vehicles, building a greenhouse structure, repurposing a space -painting and organising…. and much more. This has sparked an interest and developed confidence and self-esteem which has enabled them to volunteer within the community thus helping them feel more connected. It has also added structure to their week and given them a sense of purpose.

Service users’ D/E/F - offering more social activities during 2018-2019 has provided service users with additional opportunities to develop positive relationships. They have reported improved social connections, both within

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and outside the Project. For the first time, some service users met up independently on Christmas Day to have dinner together! Those individuals stated they would have been lonely during the Christmas period and felt that they had “made genuine friendships through Six Circle”.

Service user feedback

“Six Circle’ the best thing I’ve come to” “I’ve built my confidence immensely…….before I would have just buried my head and hoped for the

best” “Feel good about yourself coming here” “If I didn’t come here……could be days without talking to anyone” “Given me a much better life” “I am brilliant now but in the past I have been useless” “I would never have been able to have experienced that without attending the Project”

With thanks

Our sincere thanks and gratitude is extended to Scottish Prison Service Perth for all their support and guidance, and for accommodating the Project within their premises which lends itself extremely well to Project needs.

Sincere appreciation and thanks to The Big Lottery Fund and Perth & Kinross Council for their financial support during 2018-2019. Without this the Project would not be sustainable and able to provide much needed services to some of the most vulnerable people within the local community.

This appreciation further extends to the organisations and individuals, of which there are too many to individually mention, who have provided support, training, workshops, advice, guidance, resources or information. The support received cannot be measured, and we hope our partnership working continues into the future and the relationships formed continue to grow.

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“Now I feel comfortable in most, if not all, social environments and this has been

down to the work that I have done at the project…….. “So a year and half later I feel that my confidence has improved and I have learned to like myself again” Steven

James ”Helps me make new friends….. keeps me upbeat ….. gives me opportunities that I wouldn’t be able to do without coming to Six Circle…. Keeps me happy and smiling….. all staff help me to get through” Coming here lifts me up and challenges me to do things”

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