On Friday 17th March, Director of Business Development, Craig Winter and Inclusion and Access Co-ordinator, Aileen Reid welcomed staff and TPS Connects members to come together to celebrate recent achievements and successes in a Buddy Training Programme and Bushcraft Instructor course.

The 10-week Buddy Training programme aims to raise empathy, self- awareness and an understanding of ourselves and each other. It allows participants to have an understanding of the responsibilities involved in developing relationships with others and empowers the participants to identify valued roles with themselves.

Eight members completed the programme. Each of them put in a lot of effort and demonstrated valuable peer support skills towards each other throughout the programme. Congratulations to William, Paul, Nicky, Pauline, Mark, Willow, Pauline and Charlene.

Further celebrations of success went to Ann and Linzi who committed to facilitating the programme after 3 months of training to enable them to do so.

Ann and Linzi congratulated each participant and delivered short speeches about each of the participants as Craig Winter presented their certificates. Each person then had the opportunity to share why they wanted to complete the programme and what they got out of it.

Craig Winter said, “Today is about celebrating the achievements of these individuals. Turning Point Scotland is about commitment and connections we make to those who work here and those we support. Coming together today shows humanity and warmth that binds us to celebrate and motivate each other.”

As well as the Buddy Training Programme, the afternoon was also an opportunity to celebrate the TPS Connects members that had successfully completed the Bushcraft Instructor course. Bushcraft is an outdoor wellbeing session that makes full use of the natural environment and participants can learn about safe tool use, creating shelter and a basic outdoor kitchen. Last year, TPS connects participated in the Bushcraft & Life Coaching Programme which can be read about here.

Those who have completed the training can now take groups out for Bushcraft sessions. Congratulations to Ann, Linzi, Barry, Lorraine and Jamie.

Well done to everyone involved and we look forward to continuing both the Buddy Training and Bushcraft Prorammes in the future.