OUR VISION
SBC’s community work in Stirling is mainly based in two buildings. The Life Centre at 63 Murray Place and the Haven on Bow Street. Both centres serve the community of Stirling, primarily focusing on wellbeing and urban depravation.
Our vision for the integrated work carried out from these two bases is for SBC’s Community Team to become an active player within the third sector in Stirling, working in partnership with other organisations to effectively deliver practical, emotional and spiritual support. We seek to work effectively utilizing different skills and resources available to us. Working together maximises the range of support that can be offered and the variety of needs that can be met.
Both centres offer a variety of social groups, in-house educational and therapeutic workshops, and mental health support for children and adults. We also offer support for families and individuals affected by substance use.
The work of SBC’s Community Team has become increasingly recognised and appreciated by other organisations for being consistent and inclusive, and for embodying a holistic approach to providing support for families, that works best in partnership.
The Life Centre serves as a central hub of support to enhance the community's well-being. We offer group and one-on-one support for individuals, parents, and families.
The Haven serves as a central community hub to address issues related to substance use and disadvantage.
NEEDS
Communities today experience issues that are multiple and complex. They include poverty, lack of education, and grief including the grief and trauma of suicide. A key issue is substance abuse and the impact that it has on whole families. These needs in Stirling are present in Stirling and beyond.
The needs reflect social issues present across Scotland such as family breakdown and mental health struggles. Many of these have been exacerbated or thrown into sharper relief as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic and we see an increase in demand for therapeutic services such as Counselling and Listening services.
OUR APPROACH
Our approach is to provide support through social groups like carers and tots, homework mentoring scheme, men's groups, recovery groups, food insecurity support, debt help, play therapy, adult counselling, divorce and separation support groups, and professional listening services.
Working across our two bases, we can triage needs and identify how best to offer help, out-with and complementing traditional sources such as GPs and Council services.
Our holistic approach combines support provided by SBC teams with referrals to particular services provided by partner organisations. This allows us to help and support all individuals and family members.
TEAMWORK & RESOURCES
The Life Centre and the Haven are the main components of SBC’s community programme. SBC has a history of working in the community stretching back decades, and have worked consistently in the top of the town for more than ten years. The work we do is carried out by paid staff working with trained professionals and a large number of volunteers from our church community who work across the whole range of services. Our support is enhanced by our growing number of partnerships with other third sector organisations as well as government agencies.
Our vision is to deepen and strengthenpartnership working, and thereby to increase our capacity to expand our work to meet the growing social, emotional and mental health needs that we see in individuals, young people and families in Stirling.
