What We Do

Venture Scotland offers young people a structured programme of adventure, conservation and personal development activities. Young people are supported through 6 months of activities consisting of 5 residentials, weekly day and evening activities and regular one-to-one sessions. There are three main elements to our programme:

Adventure

Young people take part in a range of exciting adventure activities including canoeing, rock climbing, hill and gorge walking. Young people gain confidence, team working and problem solving skills through their involvement in these activities. This part of the programme is accredited through the Duke of Edinburgh Award, BCU Canoeing Awards and the National Navigation Award Scheme.

Conservation

We enable young people to discover more about the natural world and encourage them to value the wild places of Scotland. Through our programme they take part in hands on conservation projects both at our main bothy site and back in the city. This part of the course is accredited through the John Muir Award.

Personal Development

We carry out structured group and one-to-one work to help young people to focus on the following key areas of personal and social development:

• Positive Relationships: being able to work together with others
• Confidence: being able to try new things and mix with new people
• Assertive Communication: being able to express own needs appropriately
• Looking after Self: having a healthy routine
• Dealing with Problems: having tools to deal with difficult situations
• Self Esteem: liking and valuing yourself
• Positive Attitude: having the resilience to keep going and stay motivated
• Responsibility: being reliable and understanding what it means to contribute

We believe that by helping a young person to increase their capacity in these areas, we can enable them to tackle the barriers that are holding them back and help them to build a positive future.