All the latest news, reports, updates and announcements from Circle’s various projects
Circle has been working across central Scotland since 2006 to ensure that families in Edinburgh, East and West Lothian, North and South Lanarkshire and more recently Fife, Forth Valley and Tayside get the support they need as soon as possible.
We have deliberately based our offices in the heart of the local communities we work in to ensure that we can reach those families most in need of our help. We hope that by being based close by we can build positive, trusting relationships with the individuals, families and communities we work with. Our head office is in the West Pilton area of Edinburgh with other smaller offices in Hamilton, Armadale and Macmerry.
Here is just a little of what we have been doing over the last few months:
Harbour
The Harbour team have been busy this past few months. We were fortunate to be awarded a holiday for a family, through the Landmark Trust, 50 for Free programme. One of our parents and her 3 children, spent a long weekend in ‘The Pineapple’ an unusual, pineapple shaped building set within lovely woodland near Stirling. The family had a great time and it was amazing to be able to offer them such an opportunity.
“The Pineapple, what can I say, an amazing location, amazing scenery great place to stay, had everything u needed, I can’t thank circle enough for our amazing weekend away in the country”
One of our experienced Family Outreach Workers has begun undertaking the Graduate Certificate Practice Learning course and later in the year will support a social work student on placement within the Harbour team. This a great opportunity to contribute to student learning and help shape future practice. Two other members of the team also delivered an input to Social Work students at Napier University around the work we do with families affected by parental substance use.
The team as a whole, continue to expand their knowledge and skills through regular training opportunities. Over the past few months Harbour staff have completed training around substance use and attachment, suicide prevention and ‘The Promise’, to name just a few.
We are also planning ahead for an Easter Activity day for families and are looking forward to being able to support families to get together and enjoy a day out, thanks to Forth Cash for Kids, whose grant will make this possible. We are also planning to distribute some activity packs to our families to help kids keep busy over the Easter break.
Any questions about our Harbour Project can be sent to the Project Manager – Julie.King@Circle.Scot
West Lothian
The West Lothian team successfully moved premises at the start of the year and are settling in well. We had previously been based within Bathgate homeless unit for 17 years and are very grateful to the West Lothian council for supporting Circle’s West Lothian project for so many years, this support has been invaluable to the ability to run the service.
The team are now based in Armadale at the Youth Action Project premises. This is an exciting move for the team and will give the opportunity to meet with families in the new space and hopefully be able to open up opportunities to run groups again in the near future.
Any questions about our West Lothian Project can be sent to the Project Manager – Hazel.Tyson@Circle.Scot
East Lothian
One of the young people from the East Lothian Children’s Resilience Project recently took part in a SHANARRI Safari* project led by Circle’s Development Manager.
This young person (J) is a keen vlogger with his own YouTube channel so we combined J’s natural talent and interest in media with Circle’s resources to team up with Media Education to make a SHANARRI Safari film.
J designed his own storyboard which helped bring his vision of the film to life. During this brainstorming process J had the idea to ask two friends to be involved with the film and he decided that he wanted it to be shot ‘on location’ in their school assembly hall and a local park. Using a SHANARRI Calamari as his mascot, as well as some hand-designed signs and an emoji chart helped J explore, discuss and understand the 8 well-being words. J had the idea to use an ’emoji chart’ (a tool that J and his Circle worker have been using together during the 1:1 sessions) so each young person could identify any emotions that they felt corresponded with each of the wellbeing words.
Next J will be heading out to the Media Education office with his Circle worker to try his hand at editing the film. We are sure that J will be as professional behind the scenes as he was in front of the camera.
Update: Media Education helped J bring his idea of making a film to life and each of the young people were involved in the film production from setting up frames to managing the sound. A huge thank you to our Film Producer from Media Education and also to J’s school for facilitating this project. We are all very excited to see the film!
(*This project will explore what each of the eight SHANARRI wellbeing indicators mean to children and young people from their unique perspective and experience. When completed, we will have a collection of views and definitions with accompanying “artwork”)
Any questions about our East Lothian Project can be sent to the Project Manager – Angela.Gentile@Circle.Scot
Families Affected by Imprisonment (FABI)
Strengthening Fathering: some members of the FABI Team met to explore ways to develop play-based activities with Dads and their children. An array of material was used to complement differing learning styles, to increase capacity to engage in play and strengthen the attachment between Dad and child. Lots of laughter and fun was had on the day and we hope that the Dads and their children can continue to experience similar positive time together using the creative lessons they learnt.
Many of the children we work with have experienced significant loss and bereavement in their lives, which impacts on their physical and emotional wellbeing, their ability to engage in school, and interact with friends. They can struggle to talk to family for fear that they might upset them and are anxious they might forget the person. We used creative activities with children and their parent focused on rainbows and sand, each colour representing a memory of the person. This helped to speak about the person, their memories, and their worries about the future and helps reassure that the person can still be an important part of their life. One child made an amazing story book to go along with it.
Any questions about our FABI project can be sent to the Project Manager – Georgina.Lyttle@Circle.Scot
Support Circle’s Work
Without your support our projects could not deliver the innovative, and vital, work that you have just read about. Making a lasting difference to the lives of children, and families, affected by poverty and struggling with social inequality takes time, patience and high quality staff.
Please consider making a donation that will change a life here.
Or you could take on a Summer challenge to support our work, why not take a look at our DARED virtual challenge here.
Want to know more?
Project Annual Reports: Circle have always been keen to share our experience and knowledge and so these reports are also used in reporting to partners, funders and local authorities. Here is a link to all of our 2021 reports :