During lockdown, you have been sharing your thoughts about the pandemic with Future Pathways. Vicky has asked us to share her poem about it with you:
The world is fighting a war – you could say, it is world war three. But this battle has no exploding bombs, soldiers firing guns, grenades being thrown, or missiles being fired into the air. The enemy is silent, deadly, and invisible, we all have to take care.
There are no air raid sirens, warning us that danger is near. But with every day that passes, the death toll continues growing, and that fills us all with fear.
This war is not a conflict between different countries, it’s a fight to save people’s lives from a deadly virus named Covid-19. The best defence is to stay in your house and keep your hands clean.
We have thousands of troops from medical teams, emergency services, food suppliers, distributors, politicians and volunteers.
They are fighting round the clock to keep us safe and well, how long this will last, only time will tell.
In these times of uncertainty there is one thing for sure – we will have hard and sad times, highs and lows. But we must stand together, take the good with the bad, play the game, fight the fight, and one day soon, everything will be alright.
Legislation to provide financial redress to people who were abused in care as children is set to be introduced in Scotland this year.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has confirmed that the Redress (Survivors of In Care Abuse) (Scotland) Bill will be introduced in the Scottish Parliament following its summer recess.
He has set out his intentions in a letter to Education and Skills Convener Clare Adamson MSP, which has been published on the Scottish Parliament website.
Mr Swinney made a statement in Parliament in October 2018 giving a commitment to establishing a financial redress scheme for survivors of child abuse in care and ensuring that the legislation for it is passed before the end of the Parliamentary term in March 2021, subject to parliamentary approval.
A total of 280 people took part in a public consultation on the redress scheme at the end of 2019, and a report on the results was published in March this year.
For more information about the redress scheme, please go to the Scottish Government website.
How do you feel about life under lockdown? One of the people supported by Future Pathways shared his thoughts with us:
“I’m amazed at how little this pandemic has impacted my life. In the beginning, the very word “pandemic ” brought fear surging into my life but as time went on, I find no fear.
“Many around me are living in fear.
“You can see it in their eyes. They move off of the pavements to avoid people. Masks of fear on everyone’s faces.
“Rubber gloves, hand sanitizer, wash, wash, washing of hands.
“Watching every sound byte, every news update. Feeding the fear with every word Boris Johnson utters.
“Hold on, this is my world of fear.
“I’m the one so used to living in perpetual fear.
“I avoid social contact.
“I avoid people.
“The world has become confusing.
“It’s turned upside down overnight.
“I’ve lived with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, social phobia, that fear of sudden death most of my life.
“Now the rest of the world is getting a taste of my day to day life.
“My normal, wasn’t normal.
“This life we are all living just now, doesn’t feel normal but strangely I fit in to it.
“Except, I don’t have their fears.
“I like that there are less people on the streets.
“I like that pubs are closed.
“I like that shops are not busy.
“Part of me wants it to stay like this.
“It’s quieter
“I’m not on high alert.
“I think of putting in more self-care during this time.
“Working on all the issues that have pushed me down.
“It seems like the perfect time.
“Maybe others will be reflecting on their own life situation.
“I wonder what good will come from all of this?”
Here is a case study about Daniel, who registered with Future Pathways after struggling with housing issues.
Daniel came to Future Pathways as he had a difficult and traumatic upbringing in care. He was assigned to receive team support from Future Pathways, which involves a group of support coordinators sharing responsibility for more than one person.
Daniel identified that the job he was in was not secure and did not pay him on time. As a result, he was struggling to pay his rent in full each month and received threatening letters. This negatively impacted his mental health and quality of life. Daniel did not feel respected and the trauma from his childhood began to resurface again. Daniel started to place less value on himself and it was a depressing time for him.
Daniel’s flat was a safe space for him and the prospect of losing it and becoming homeless terrified him. Being able to keep his flat was important to Daniel as it contributed towards maintaining his overall mental health and wellbeing.
Daniel required short term assistance from Future Pathways to cover his rent while he moved to a new job, as well as trauma-informed support.
He said: “If I hadn’t had that help to cover my rent while I moved jobs, I would have spiralled into depression. I’ve done that before, but I didn’t this time because I’ve got that help there.”
Daniel remains in his own flat and does not need support from Future Pathways, but he knows that he can reach out to Future Pathways again if his needs change. Daniel has met all his personal outcomes. He continues to live in his own home, has settled in at work, feels respected, and is becoming more social again.
He added: “I can actually see the change. Things are so much better.”
You may have heard that the Scottish/UK Government has responded to the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) by declaring that people should avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary.
The specific advice issued yesterday is:
- Anyone with a fever or persistent cough should stay at home for 14 days. Anyone who lives with someone displaying coronavirus symptoms should also do this.
- Everyone should stop non-essential contact with others. This is particularly important for people over 70, those with underlying health conditions and pregnant women.
- People should work from home where they can.
- People should avoid places like pubs, clubs and theatres.
- People should stop all unnecessary travel.
- By the weekend (from 21/3), those with the most serious health conditions should be largely shielded from social contact for 12 weeks.
- The previous advice also remains and everyone should regularly wash their hands and avoid contacting the NHS unless it’s essential.
We would like to reassure people supported by Future Pathways that protecting the health and wellbeing of the people we support and our staff is our priority.
This will mean that we will not be able to offer any face to face meetings or visit people at home for now, but we will offer alternatives ways of keeping in touch via telephone or email. We are also in contact with our partners who provide support to ensure we keep up-to-date with what services or supports if any are affected and will speak with people whose support may be directed affected by the restrictions.
You will still be able to get in touch with the support coordination team by phone or email, and the freephone number 0808 164 2005 will be available as usual, Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.
We are taking all available steps to minimise any impact to the service during these challenging times and will keep people up to date with any new developments. Our social media channels will be regularly updated, so please check our Facebook, Twitter and this website pages for further news.
Scottish Government information about COVID-19 (coronavirus) can be found here. For people living elsewhere in the UK, please follow this link.
In any crisis or emergency, please refer to the contacts on our website towards the bottom of the homepage.
The Moira Anderson Foundation (MAF) serves Scotland from its base in Airdrie and specialises in supporting people who have experienced abuse. It was one of the first organisations to work with Future Pathways since we were set up in 2016 and has supported several people since then.
One example is “David”. In his 40s and a single father of two, David was abused from the age of eight while in care. He was referred to Future Pathways after reporting the abuse to Police Scotland.
Working with Future Pathways’ Support Coordinator, David identified the outcomes he wanted to achieve, which included improving his mental wellbeing, ensuring his children were insulated from his experiences, and becoming more mobile.
David was allocated a MAF Client Support Officer and together they developed coping strategies which helped with his anxiety. MAF provided complementary therapies and massage to help with relaxation. MAF also identified funding from Children in Need to enable support for David’s children and while we were awaiting this, Future Pathways provided vouchers and toys for the children over Christmas.
David continues to receive counselling from MAF and his WEBMWS (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale) rating has improved significantly (from 16 to 60). David feels less anxious, though not without the occasional break-down. Overall, he reports having a “brighter and clearer head”. Future Pathways continues to enable travel either by David or by his MAF Client Support Officer to ensure this course of work continues.
David attributes all these changes to being “really listened to” and to the learning and coping strategies he has been able to develop with MAF’s support. David feels that being able to speak out about his past abuse has enabled him to place it better in the past and not the present. He says he is also coming to terms better with the fact that both his abusers have died and thus would not face justice.
David has made great progress and together, Future Pathways and the MAF continue to support him as he progresses towards his goals and enjoys his life.
More than 1,000 people had registered for support with Future Pathways by summer 2019, according to the latest quarterly report.
There was an average of 40 registrations a month, with an increase in the number signing up from out-with the central belt and the rest of the UK.
And all the registrations from the rest of the world came exclusively from people who are now living in Australia.
The number of older adults registering increased due to the launch of the Scottish Government’s Advance Payment Scheme for those aged over 70 or who have a terminal illness.
The report, which covers April to June this year, also contains a financial breakdown of what was spent by Future Pathways.
You can read the report by clicking here.
Mandy is a Support Provider for Future Pathways. Read on to find out about her work with people who were abused in care as children.
“My name is Mandy and I work in the Scottish Borders in Galashiels. I work with Future Pathways in two ways – I offer counselling to people who want that type of support and I also work as a Safeguarder at meetings and workshops.
“Throughout my working life I have always worked with people in helping roles, both in the community and also in the therapeutic and counselling field. My work experience includes working as a team member developing and sustaining Voluntary Sector counselling services and also as a self employed therapist.
“I began training in counselling on part time study at Edinburgh University in my 40’s and it took many years to complete a Masters degree there which, to my family’s delight, after years of me having my head stuck in a book, I finally passed with distinction in 2008.
“By the time I qualified as a counsellor, a small pot of non-recurrent funding through the NHS Sexual Health Strategy became available in the Borders. Penumbra, who I worked for at the time as a Tenancy Support Worker, created a post for me to set up a 10 hour counselling service to meet the needs of people who had survived childhood abuse. As this post and funding came to an end 18 months later (due to lack of funding) I applied for work with what was then a newly launched service for people who had specifically experienced abuse whilst in care and was employed by Open Secret 2009 -2014 to work as a development worker in the Borders whilst still based within Penumbra.
“This service included not only a counselling service for people who had been harmed in care as children, but also advocacy and more general support – folk coming through the door often referred with complex trauma and varying degrees ongoing trauma due to the legacy abuse, which in my experience can leave both incredible resilience as well as devastating impacts. I worked as a freelance counsellor for Health in Mind from 2014-16 working with their CSA service and on the trauma helpline.
“During this phase of my working life I dived headlong into understanding how to work with trauma, training in a few different systems, such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, TRE and more lately QEC. I offer a way of working that integrates what I have learnt – I don’t set out to work in a particular way or get into ‘I’m the expert and I’m gonna fix you mode’. My bottom line is that the person I work with is the expert on themselves and their own lives and I always want to respect that, but I do have some skills and ways of facilitating that can be helpful.
“We know that trauma breaks bonds of trust and that this gets very complicated when it happens in the context of a care setting. The approaches I offer are basically aimed at establishing self-trust, self-worth and self-empowerment – I like to work in a flexible and responsive way that suits the individuals I work with. It is hugely rewarding work which leaves me feeling humbled and very grateful for the opportunity to be involved with Future Pathways and its work.”
Mandy Gaze – www.counsellingworks.scot
A massage school offering trauma-informed treatment has joined Future Pathways as a Support Provider.
The Glasgow School of Massage offers training courses as well as various therapies to help address people’s wellbeing.
Head tutor and therapist Rachel Black offers a private treatment clinic to the public with a range of specialised massage treatments including therapeutic massage, scar management, aromatherapy, oncology massage, and manual lymphatic drainage.
Rachel is adversity and trauma informed. She understands the impact of trauma and that it must be recognised and that re-traumatisation must be avoided at all times. She said: “Trauma can have long lasting impact and directly affect the individual and their environment. Sometimes, this requires significant social, emotional, neurobiological, psychological or behavioural adaptation.”
Rachel added: “After recently starting to work with Future Pathways we are looking forward to continuing our work offering a vital space and modality for clients to experience safe touch, relaxation, comfort, tension relief and conscious attention.”
The Glasgow School of Massage is a trusted provider of accredited (Accredited by the FHT, Federation of Holistic Therapists) professional courses and recognised qualifications for beginners to established therapists. All training is insurable for professional use.
Survivors who are registered with Future Pathways are being invited to take part in a series of feedback events across Scotland.
The engagement sessions are an opportunity for people receiving support from the organisation to share their opinions and ideas about the service.
It is very important to hear directly from survivors about how the service is doing and how it can be improved for everyone who is registered.
The events are taking place in:
Dundee – September 12th;
Galashiels – September 16th;
Stirling – September 24th;
Aberdeen – September 26th.
Each meeting will consist of up to 10 people and will include an update about Future Pathways. The aim is that they will take place in a safe and comfortable setting.
To register, please email the Communications and Engagement team on engagement@future-pathways.co.ukor by calling 0141 226 9852. You can also speak to your Support Coordinator if you are interested.