I wonder if you stay in touch with people you were at school with? Frankly, the very idea of school reunions sends me running to the hills in a cold sweat, but in today’s digitally shrunken world it is relatively easy to keep in touch at whatever level you wish, so I have a chat…
Community Custody Unit Research Opportunity
We are delighted to be partnering the University of Dundee to support a collaborative PhD studentship with the purpose of evaluating the impact of the new Dundee Community Custody Unit for women which is due to open in April 2022. The CCU is part of a wider strategy adopted by the Scottish Prison Service in…
Petrol Saving and Funding Policing
Now admit, are you one of those people who will drive well out of your way just to find fuel suppliers that offer a slightly lower price? A friend of mine will spend ages looking up who has the best price and then taking great pride in telling everyone how he had saved two pence…
Apex Working With Vital Spark Through The Pandemic
Vital Spark Racing C.I.C. is a proposed social enterprise company based in Alloa with an aim to offer a practical workshop course in power boat building which will benefit, support and empower disadvantaged young people in the Clackmannanshire region. This course offers our service users the opportunity to gain self-confidence, work experience and a company reference…
Aim Higher
One of the most obvious impacts of having liberty curtailed is that it generates a sense of low self-worth and motivation. This is something we have all been experiencing of late and the covid-19 blues is a very real and difficult mindset to get over, even when you have supportive family and familiar surroundings. Maybe…
Another Drop In The Ocean
Mother Teresa is reported to have responded to a reporter who had commented that her contribution to helping the poor was just a drop in the ocean, by pointing out that an ocean is simply a collection of drops. I have been thinking as we near the Christmas break of all the little contributions which…
The Importance of a Soft Foundation
Opposite my house at the moment is a huge building site which makes for a messy outlook and a lot of noise from dawn to dusk. What struck me most was the huge number of people that turn up each day and then seem to get swallowed up in some big hole somewhere and nothing…
Any Job Will Do?
When I was a keen young drug worker, full of my own self-importance and believing with all the naivety of youth that I actually knew something, I tended to think in terms of outcomes rather than achievements. It was only after lots of hard lessons about real life that I began to fully realise that…
Our New Blog
We are often asked for our opinion on current justice topics, or to contribute our expertise on various consultations, conferences and matters of special interest. With our new blog we hope to give the voice of our sector and our service users a new platform to make comment and encourage debate on any number of…
New Disclosure Rules: What Happens Next?
On 30th November 2020 changes come into law which significantly alter the situation for many people who have been denied access to jobs they have been suitable for, because of disclosure issues relating in some cases to old offences with little or no relevance to the job they were applying for. This is an area…