At Future Pathways, we work with a range of services to help people access support. This includes making our information accessible to people. Here, we chat to Claire from Disability Equality Scotland. She tells us more about creating Easy Read documents. And gives tips for how we can all make our information easier to understand.
Firstly, can you tell us a bit about Disability Equality Scotland?
Disability Equality Scotland is a membership organisation for disabled people and disability groups and organisations. We often call ourselves DES for short.
We want to hear about disabled people’s experiences of accessibility, inclusion and equality, good or bad! This information helps us when we meet with key decision makers who are responsible for ensuring equality and human rights are in place with policies and the law.
We are trying to make Scotland accessible and inclusive to everyone.
Image: Marit, Claire, Shona – the Easy Read team at Disability Equality Scotland
What’s your role at Disability Equality Scotland?
I am one of the Easy Read Creators, along with my colleagues Shona and Marit. Being an Easy Read Creator means taking an original document – like a survey, a letter, an information leaflet or a report – and simplifying it into an Easy Read version. This can then be offered alongside the original and reach many more people thanks to its easy-to-understand text and pictures.
Easy Read versions are brilliant for reaching:
Future Pathways has worked with you to make Easy Read versions of our booklets. Can you tell us more about how you do these?
It’s been great working with Future Pathways to produce documents like the Easy Read Information Pack and Easy Read How to get your In Care records.
A good example is this one about Easy Read Support While You Wait.
To make this, I identified the most important information and rewrote it in shorter, easier sentences. For trickier words like ‘care records’, I added a definition to explain what it means.
I made sure that the Easy Read version gave the information in the most helpful order. Finally, I added helpful images for each chunk of Easy Read information and a hidden description to each image, called alt-text. This is so that anyone using a screen reader and who may not be able to see the images can have the alt-text read out to them by their screen reader. This may help them to better understand the wording.
What tips can you give services for making their materials more accessible?
Can people take part in your work?
Yes! We have an Easy Read User Feedback Group who send us feedback on our Easy Read documents. If you would like to join the group, we would be very happy to welcome you and send you a document each month to have a look at.
To find out more, please email easyread@disabilityequality.scot
If you want to join a training course to write your own Easy Read documents, or to understand how to make your content more accessible, you can reach our outstanding trainers Sonya and Lilly at training@disabilityequality.scot
We are also very proud to be part of a large group of Easy Read organisations working together with Easy Read users to make a new set of Easy Read Standards for the UK. Our aim is to make sure that Easy Read users can get the same style of high-quality Easy Read material across the UK. It’s due to be published in Autumn 2026 and we are so pleased to be a part of it!
If you are interested in Disability Equality Scotland, you can become a member for free and join over 1 thousand disabled people sharing their views on access and inclusion in Scotland.
Find out more at: www.disabilityequality.scot
You can also follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and BlueSky.
Future Pathways is pleased to support Better Records Together, the latest campaign from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Better Records Together calls for urgent improvements to support people accessing their care records. This campaign follows two years of engagement and research into how services can better support people to access their records and understand their history.
To help tackle issues and encourage systemic change, the ICO has created a suite of practical resources including new standards for organisations, clear guidance for people accessing their records, and videos and case studies amplifying the voices of people with care experience.
These new resources are vital in ensuring that care experienced people can access their records in a supported and sensitive way. We encourage everyone to join the collective effort in empowering people to exercise their rights and access their records.
Standards for Better Records
See the new set of good practice standards created by the ICO for organisations who hold care records. These aim to provide clarity, drive change and raise the standard so that people can access their records in a timely and supported way.
Short guide for people with care experience
This bitesize guide covers all the key information around accessing care records, rights under data protection and how to raise a complaint. The guide reflects what care experienced people said was most important about accessing their records.
Videos and case studies
Gain a deeper understanding of how it feels for people to access their records. These videos and case studies highlight the experience of people who have encountered barriers in accessing their care records.
We are delighted to be part of Social Work Scotland Annual Conference 2025. Taking place in Glasgow on 9 October, the conference explores how relationships can be a catalyst for change. Bringing together professionals from across a wide range of sectors, this is a chance to explore the significant impact of relationship-based practice.
Future Pathways will be hosting an exhibition stand throughout the day, providing the opportunity for delegates to find out more about the work we do, the difference we make and the connections we create with people and services. We’ll be sharing core information about our service, alongside key research, and aim to foster new relationships with organisations and professionals. We also look forward to finding out more about the diverse and inspiring work taking place at other services across the wider sector.
As a service which prioritises building safe and trusting relationships with people we support, we are looking forward to sharing more about our approach to support. Our own research demonstrates the importance of our relational approach and how building positive and supportive connections is intrinsic to impactful support.
Social Work Scotland Annual Conference
9 October 2025
Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Annual Conference and Exhibition 2025 – Social Work Scotland
Further resources
Journey of Connection
A Journey of Connection demonstrates the scale and significance of the partnerships we create, develop and maintain. Whether it be the individual relationships we hold or our part in the wider landscape of support, we encourage people to consider how positive connections can bring meaningful change.
Being There
Being There looks at the prevalence of multiple unmet basic needs among people we support. The report also considers the barriers people face when accessing support and how we can help people to navigate these barriers.
We are delighted to be part of this year’s Towards Relational Public Services conference. Taking place in Manchester 3-5 June, the conference explores how we can create relational public services. This means services which focus on building relationships with people, rather than seeing support as transactional. It looks at how we can create better services by putting people’s lived experience at the heart of support. .
Future Pathways will be leading a workshop at the conference. Here, we will share more about our relational approach to working with other services and what this looks like in practice. We will also encourage participants to reflect on how this approach can be adapted for other services.
We’ll describe our relational approach to evaluation, specifically about how we measure the impact of our work with other services. And we’ll talk about how taking an outcome mapping approach can enable and support this.
Importantly, we’ll be sharing what we have learned about the impact of our relational approach for people with lived experience of in care abuse and neglect.
We look forward to sharing our learning with other services who are interested in developing a relational approach, showing the impact of their work with partners, and learning about how partnership working can support people to progress their personal outcomes.
Towards Relational Public Services Conferences
3-5 June 2025, Manchester Metropolitan University
This conference brings together people who work across a diverse range of services. The aim is to inspire people to work towards and create relational public services.
Further Resources
Being There
Being There looks at the prevalence of multiple unmet basic needs among people we support. The report also considers the barriers people face when accessing support and how we can help people to navigate these barriers.
Pathways to Change
In Pathways to Change we take an in-depth look at the work of Future Pathways from April 2023 to March 2024. The report gives us greater insight into how we make a real difference, and where there is scope for improvement.
Data driven improvement
Data-driven improvement can help us to see how we can make a difference, map our influence and improve support. Find out more about how data helps us develop our service.
Measuring the impact of our relational approach
Find out more about our relational approach, creating connections and how we measure the impact we make.
Have you worked in partnership with Future Pathways? We want to hear from you.
If you work in the third sector or in a statutory service, we’d like to know what you think of Future Pathways.
At Future Pathways we support people who experienced abuse or neglect as children in Scottish care settings. A big part of the support we offer is helping people to connect and work with existing services, including third sector and statutory services. We connect people with services in a range of ways to help them access the support they need. We:
- Signpost people to support
- Refer people to support
- Support people to engage with services
- Help existing services to work effectively with people we support
We know that supporting people to access services is very important for many people accessing Future Pathways. So, we want to learn more about the true scope of this part of our support. We also want to hear what it is like for services to work with Future Pathways. And we want to hear how you think we could improve.
We know that our collective support can make a real difference. We think that working in partnership with existing services can have important ripple effects for people. For example, we think it might help people build trust with other services. We want to hear what you think about the impact of our work together.
If you have experience of working with Future Pathways, share your views with us. Your feedback helps us improve our service.
Survey runs 27 January to 10 March 2025.
All feedback is anonymous, unless you would like us to contact you about your feedback. You can read more about how we store and use information in our privacy policy on our website.
A good night’s sleep can boost your mental health. Here, we share top tips from First Psychology.
Sleep is an important part of our lives. It helps us with our physical and mental health. Good quality sleep can help us feel refreshed. It can help us get ready for the day ahead.
If you find it hard to sleep well, you are not alone. When we sleep badly, we can feel very tired. We can wake up feeling annoyed. And it can be hard to focus on the things we need to do through the day.
Sleeping badly can happen to lots of people. It can happen more when we feel stressed or worried.
What does ‘good sleep’ mean?
Good sleep means:
- You fall asleep within 30 minutes of going to bed.
- You sleep all the way through the night. You do not wake up more than once during the night.
- You get the right amount sleep. Adults should try to sleep for 7 to 9 hours a night.
- You feel refreshed when you wake up.
Tips to improve your sleep
Create a routine.
Go to bed at the same time every night. Try to get up at the same time every morning too.
Try things that can help to relax before bedtime.
Some people find yoga can help them to relax before bed. Some people find it helpful to read or to listen to an audio book. Nice smelling candles and herbal teas can be soothing. A hot water bottle can help you feel more restful.
Get exercise at the right time.
Keeping active during the day helps us get tired for bedtime. Getting outside in the morning can help us sleep better at night. But doing exercise too close to bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep.
Watch what you drink.
Caffeine can affect our sleep. Try not to have coffee or energy drinks late in the day. Alcohol can affect our sleep too. It can make it harder to stay asleep through the night.
Switch off your devices.
The light from phones, tablets and laptops can affect our sleep. Try to switch them off an hour before you go to bed.
Write down your worries.
If you find yourself worrying at bedtime, keep a pen and paper beside your bed. Writing down your worries can help to stop them going round in your head and help you feel more peaceful.
Try not to get frustrated.
If you are finding it hard to sleep, try not to get angry about it. Get up and try a gentle activity, like reading. Then go back to bed when you feel more sleepy.
Find what works for you. Try to be kind to yourself when you are tired.
This article is adapted from a booklet called ‘Sleep better, feel better’. It is written by First Psychology. First Psychology are one of our Delivery Partners. They offer different kinds of therapy, like counselling, psychotherapy and coaching. They are based in Edinburgh but they have offices in lots of places.
You can find out more about them at www.firstpsychology.co.uk
You can see the full booklet at: www.firstpsychology.co.uk/booklets
As the year draws to a close, we want to thank our valued Delivery Partners for working in partnership with Future Pathways in 2024.
Our work together this year
- We worked alongside a network of 51 Delivery Partners offering a wide range of different types of support.
- At least 118 people registered with us – 15% of people accessing Future Pathways – were accessing Delivery Partner support.
- At least 10 people accessed support from more than one Delivery Partner.
- At least 75 people started accessing support from a Delivery Partner.
We also asked our Delivery Partners for feedback through our annual Delivery Partner Feedback Questionnaire. We wanted to know more about what it is like for Delivery Partners to work with Future Pathways, and about the impact of our work together. We received responses from 18 Delivery Partners providing a range of different types of support such as counselling, housing support, and trauma support work. Here are some key findings from the questionnaire.
Our approach
Most respondents told us that working with Future Pathways is different from working with other services because our support is focused on the person; we communicate effectively with our partners; and we are supportive of the work our Delivery Partners do. Delivery Partners used words such as “responsive” “supportive” and “caring” to describe our approach. But the most used word to describe our approach was “collaborative”. This word cloud shows the words our Delivery Partners used to describe our approach.
Our impact for Delivery Partners
One of Future Pathways’ outcomes is to make trauma informed support more accessible to people registered with us. And we can see from the feedback we received that this is a big part of the difference we make for our Delivery Partners.
“I have learned that trauma can cause a wide range of physical and emotional symptoms” – Delivery Partner
“I notice that I encourage clients to believe in themselves and to analyse what parts of their lives they feel are challenging” – Delivery Partner
Future improvements
Feedback from our Delivery Partners has also helped us learn how we can improve. While most of the feedback we received was complementary, we also received some suggestions about how we could improve. For example, considering when we review contracts with our Delivery Partners and looking at how we can best measure progress towards people’s goals.
We look forward to continuing to work alongside our Delivery Partners to develop our service, and enhance the support accessed by people with lived experience in 2025.
Find out more about the difference we make
Pathways to Change is our latest impact report. Here, we take an in-depth look at the work of Future Pathways from April 2023 to March 2024. This report helps us to gain a deeper insight into how we make a real difference, and where there is scope for improvement.
Join us at our latest learning event. We’ve teamed up with Matter of Focus for our latest webinar, ‘Taking a trauma-informed approach to quality and impact.’
Live webinar: Wednesday 13 November, 12.30–1.30pm (GMT)
In this webinar, you can find out more about how we developed a trauma-informed approach to quality and improvement. Members of the Future Pathways team will talk about our integrated approach to impact evaluation, quality measurement and service improvement.
Join Sarah Morton (Director, Matter of Focus) in conversation with Flora Henderson (In Care Survivors Alliance Director), Louise Hall (Impact and Evaluation Lead, Future Pathways), and Carole-Anne Roger (Quality and Improvement Manager, Future Pathways) about our journey and what we’ve learned.
- Gain insights into developing a trauma-informed approach to quality and improvement.
- Discover how the OutNav approach can support data-driven service improvement.
- Hear practical strategies for effectively integrating impact evaluation, quality measurement and service improvement.
Our partnership with Matter of Focus
At key stages in our journey, Matter of Focus helped us build our knowledge and understanding by acting as an independent learning partner. In 2023, Matter of Focus helped us review our evidence and learn more about people’s experience of the service through a series of discussions.
At Future Pathways, we work collaboratively with our Delivery Partners. Our service model’s in-built flexibility allows support – and its accompanying impact – to evolve.
Here, Nell Glen, Partner Relationship Lead, describes our collaborative approach to working with Delivery Partners, and how this enhances support for people who access Future Pathways.
Since Future Pathways began, we have worked with upwards of 130 Delivery Partners, some of which we are still working with today.
Since the start of the service in 2016, we have developed and expanded with more staff and more Delivery Partners. As such, our commissioning processes have changed over time as we’ve learnt more about what facilitates effective support.
We’ve learnt that a collaborative and relational approach to commissioning brings trust, choice and flexibility to our outcomes-focused support. It also creates a network of support, knowledge and learning with Delivery Partners which, in turn, helps us navigate complexity and offer holistic support to people accessing Future Pathways.
We’ve also learnt that a collaborative approach to commissioning can, at times, be challenging to navigate for Delivery Partners and staff alike. For example, our collaborative report into impactful partnership working found that:
“Working in this way can be complex as it takes an investment of time to build trust, and most importantly a genuine commitment to collaborate and share power.”
Our approach has evolved, and we’ve had to adapt our approach over time so that it works in practice for everyone. One of Future Pathways’ aims is to take a trauma informed approach to all that we do, including our work with Delivery Partners. The changes we have made are underpinned by the 6 key principles of trauma informed practice: choice, trustworthiness, safety, empowerment, collaboration and cultural consideration.
Here you can read some examples of how we apply trauma informed principles to our work with Delivery Partners.
CHOICE
At Future Pathways we give the people we support a choice about who they work with, supporting them to select services that align with their desired outcomes. We support potential Delivery Partners to make informed choices about collaborating with us by sharing a new resource we have created about what working with Future Pathways involves.
TRUSTWORTHINESS
We have created more transparency around our commissioning approach and the way we set up support, through the development of our Delivery Partner welcome pack. The information in the welcome pack aligns with our internal guidance, so everyone is working from the same roadmap, promoting consistency.
SAFETY
The safety of our commissioning approach has been reinforced through clearer, more structured contracts and better-defined timelines for reviewing support. This provides more opportunities for the people we support, Delivery Partners, and Support Coordinators to understand progress towards goals, check whether support should be adapted, and to nurture a collaborative, safe relationship.
EMPOWERMENT
Future Pathways strives to empower people we support by helping them identify supports which will help them to progress their own desired outcomes. This is made possible through the flexible, trusting and collaborative nature of the relationships between Future Pathways and our Delivery Partners.
We also empower Delivery Partners to help us shape our collective support by inviting them to participate in focus groups, evaluations and other collaborative projects, such as a recent project to refresh our complaints and resolutions policy.
COLLABORATION
We recognise the value and expertise of our Delivery Partners, and we want to work closely with them to best support people to achieve their goals. For example, our new approach improves the quality of reporting and creates a feedback loop directly with Delivery Partners. It also clarifies how we communicate with Delivery Partners, ensuring that we collaborate closely with our Delivery Partners throughout a person’s support.
CULTURAL CONSIDERATION
When we work with people, we must take into consideration the specific needs of people who have experienced abuse or neglect in Scottish care settings. We have designed our commissioning approach so that it balances structured support with the flexibility people need to engage with services.
As the changes we’ve made to our commissioning approach continue to embed we expect to see support continue to evolve, along with its accompanying impact.
We want to hear from you
We are always keen to hear from people we support, our Delivery Partners and our providers. You can give us feedback at any time during the year through our Feedback Form.
See the difference we make together
Our latest impact report, Pathways to Change, gives us greater insight into how we make a real difference, and where there is scope for improvement. View and download our full report, summary report and mini report.
We are very pleased to support the publication Accessing Records in Scotland, a new report which brings together findings about what it is like for people with care experience to access their records.
Researched and written by Aberdeen City Council, the Champions Board of West Dunbartonshire Council, The City of Edinburgh Council, Future Pathways, Social Work Scotland and Who Cares? Scotland, the report focuses on what people with care experience tell us about the Right of Access. It also makes key recommendations for how the process can be improved so that anyone who chooses to access their records in future can do so in a way that is safe and supported.
The Right of Access gives each of us the right to obtain a copy of our personal data from any organisation which holds information about us. Accessing records can be particularly significant to people with care experience: records can provide information about their past which would otherwise be unavailable.
This new report was made possible by participants with care experience who generously gave their time, knowledge and insights so that we might all gain a better understanding of how things are now and where changes need to be made. People described the deep personal significance of their records, that they contributed to forging, understanding and asserting their identities. It is essential, therefore, that services recognise why records are important to people with care experience.
It is also crucial that organisations understand how the process of accessing records can also have a serious impact. It is a significant decision for someone to choose to seek information about their time in care and the experience can be highly emotional at each stage, from the decision to make a request, to the process of receiving records, to reading them. People have described how important it is to feel informed, listened to, safe and supported throughout the process.
The process for people is significantly improved when there is good communication, access to support and full explanation from the record holders. It is essential that people are supported at each stage. The report aims to create a foundation for developing a consistent, trauma-informed, rights-based framework for anyone responding to Rights of Access requests.
Many people supported by Future Pathways seek support for record searches and it is consistently one of the most access forms of support from our Delivery Partners. We have supported over 750 people (around a third of people we support) to access their records by working with Delivery Partners, such as Birthlink and Wellbeing Scotland, who help to identify and find records, compile records, and support people throughout the process.
Future Pathways supports the recommendations made in this report. We believe accessing records is part of ongoing care; policy and practice must meet the needs of people with care experience. Clear and accessible information is essential – anyone who chooses to access their records must be supported to feel informed and empowered. We know that records can contribute to building identity and form part of the journey towards trauma recovery. Therefore, underpinning the process of accessing records must be a trauma-informed, person-centred approach that reflects choice, collaboration, trust, empowerment and safety.
We encourage all services, organisations and practitioners who are involved in working with people with care experience, record searches and trauma recovery to read this report. You will hear the voices of people with care experience throughout. Their insights into this key issue are fundamental in generating awareness, understanding and, ultimately, change.