What we do

We help young people recognise what they need to change; then we give them the confidence. motivation and tools they need to make those changes

 

How we do it

• give people time and space in a wilderness setting, far away from the pressures of home.
• present them with physical, emotional and social challenges that take them into a personal 'stretch' zone where powerful learning takes place.
• help them evaluate what they learn, and how to put those lessons to work when they return home.

about our organisation

Download our latest Annual Accounts for year ended March 2009 (this link opens in a new window).

 

our beliefs

• Anyone can change if they really want to.
• Change is a product of confidence, motivation and strategy.
• Change is up to the individual - nobody can be forced to change.
• Change begins here and now, not in the future.
• Change depends on thoughts, not feelings.
• The wilderness is a wonderful place to think about, and make, changes.

our foundations

Venture Trust is a registered charity (no. 285891) founded in 1982.

We hold the Scottish Quality Management Systems Award and we are a registered outdoor provider with the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority.

Our residential centre, an 18th Century hunting lodge, is in the North West Highlands of Scotland, our head office is located in Edinburgh and we have an operational base in Cumbernauld

We are funded by the Scottish Government, The European Social Fund, and other charitable trusts.

our board of directors

• Sheriff David Mackie (Chairman)

David has been the resident Sheriff in Alloa Sheriff Court for over five years. He became a full time Sheriff in 2001 following ten years in private practice as an Advocate and before that as a solicitor. The issue of youth crime and the treatment of young offenders is something he encounters on a daily basis in his work and it has become an area of considerable interest to him.

• Professor Peter Higgins

Peter Higgins holds Professor of Outdoor and Environmental Education at the University of Edinburgh, and holds the only personal chair in the field in Europe. He holds high-level instructional awards in a wide range of outdoor activities, and teaches practical and academic aspects of postgraduate outdoor and environmental education programmes. He is a member of national and international advisory groups and EU and UNESCO educational projects, and has advised the UK and Scottish Governments on outdoor and environmental education, access to the countryside and related environmental issues. He has conducted extensive research and published widely in these fields.

•  Bernadette Monaghan

Bernadette has a background in law and criminology and has worked in the justice system for more than 20 years, in developing crime prevention and community safety partnerships, criminology research and latterly in senior management in the voluntary sector for 11 years. She has contributed to all the major changes and developments in justice and offender management policy in recent years, serving on The Sentencing Commission, the National Advisory Body for Offender Management, the Programme Implementation Board to oversee the introduction of The Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2005 and Community Justice Authorities and the National Support team to the CJA’s in their initial phase. She was a founding member of Families Outside and Skills for Justice, is a longstanding member of the Advisory Group for the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime and is Secretary to the Edinburgh branch of SASO (Scottish Association for the Study of Offending). She was recently appointed as a lay representative to the Joint Standing Committee on Legal Education in Scotland and invited to join the Criminal Law Committee of The Law Society of Scotland as well as the Advisory Group for the Business School at Napier University.

• Glenys Watt MA, MBA, FRSA

Glenys Watt is a Founder-Director of Blake Stevenson Ltd, consultants in economic and social development and one of Scotland’s leading social consultancy companies. Glenys has worked extensively over the past twenty years with the public, private and voluntary sectors, and with disadvantaged communities throughout the UK, parts of Europe and Africa.  During her early career, Glenys worked with emotionally disturbed children through Barnardos, and spent two years as a VSO volunteer in Nigeria. More recently, Glenys has led strategic reviews of many third sector organisations including SACRO, Citizens Advice Scotland, Family Mediation Scotland, Alcohol Focus Scotland and the Venture Trust.

• Elizabeth Cutting

Elizabeth is Head of Judicial Communications in Scotland, and has a background in research and policy in the academic and charitable sectors. She has extensive experience of working with the national and local press and media through her work with a number of major charities, and previously held the post of communications and research officer at SACRO  Safeguarding Communties - Reducing Offending.

•  Mairi Brackenridge

Mairi is Head of Adult and Justice Services, with responsibility for substance misuse, mental health, learning and physical disability services, reception and justice services.  Previously, she has been Head of Justice Services with responsibility for Criminal Justice, Youth Justice, and the development of the domestic abuse strategy.  Mairi started her career has a social worker in London and Glasgow, before becoming child care planning officer in Strathclyde.  She was Planning Manager, with responsibility for child care, criminal justice and social and economic planning in South Lanarkshire Council between 1996 and 1997, and was Operational Manager of the Criminal Justice Service from 1997 to 2005, where she was involved in the feasibility study and pilot of a Youth Court.

• Brian Cole

A career civil servant with the Scottish Office/Executive for the past 36 years, Brian has worked across a range of departments including education, home, agriculture and fisheries, industry and justice.  For the past 12 years, Brian has been employed within the Community Justice Services Division, where he has held lead responsibility for community penalties and the wider criminal justice social work agenda. During his time in post he has been responsible for the introduction of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, drug and youth courts and pre-disposal interventions, and has worked with the Association of Directors of Social Work to achieve improvements to the delivery of community service orders. Most recently he has policy lead for preparing draft legislation and operational guidance for Community Payback Orders.

•  Billy McKenzie

Billy McKenzie works in the Scottish Government, and has experience in a broad range of policy developments which include early intervention and creating safer communities. He has also worked on local taxation policy, European Union policy, and will shortly be starting in a new position working on offender management issues.