Searchlight Scotland was founded in 2018 with a drive and hope to see societies most vulnerable receive trauma informed care and support in order for them to live the life that they deserve.
Over the past few years we have seen many individuals come through our doors and start a journey to freedom from addiction, abuse, exploitation and many other life controlling issues. We are passionate about providing specialised care to those who have suffered trauma in their lives.
We have a vision and a drive to identify and rescue those who are trapped in the travesty of human trafficking. We want to raise awareness to as many individuals identified in Scotland as we can. We have a passion to see slavery ended in Scotland in our life time.
We are committed to expanding and developing our services to see the long lasting recovery and restoration of many more individuals who have found themselves in very dark situations.
“All it takes is for someone to go first, to search and reach out, to bring light to the darkness”
Searchlight Scotland is governed by our Board of Trustees who seek to ensure the best interests of the charity and are involved in all types of management decisions.
Service users are supported by our team of Case Workers and Support workers who will meet with them regularly to ensure that not only are their current needs being met but that they are progressing in their own personalised development plan towards independent living.
INTEGRITY
We believe in promoting respect, dignity and honour whilst building working
relationships built on trust and honesty. This is practised at all times in order
for our clients and staff to be treated appropriately and professionally.
HOPE
Hope is central to Searchlight and we believe it can be found in the darkest of
situations. Our staff and volunteers are committed to being carriers of hope.
TRANSFORMATIONAL GROWTH
We are advocates for emotional, physical, spiritual and mental health. We
believe that lives can be transformed when Love is central to the action of care.
IDENTITY
We strive to create an environment where service users feel like they belong,
are considered, empowered and are building their self worth.
We run an independent and trust based programme with supported accommodation. Although we welcome women with life controlling issues who need all levels of support, we are not a rehabilitation centre and require all applicants to enter our programme clean of substances and alcohol or on a detox programme. We can provide an information pack on the activities and what the day to day looks like to help anyone considering this different and more independent approach to tackling life controlling issues.
Searchlight Scotland was founded on the principles of the Christian faith and inspired by the stories of survivors in the UK. Many, but by no means all, of our staff and volunteers come from a Christian background. All staff and volunteers are expected to work in a way that reflects respect, tolerance, passion for restoration and the empowerment of service users to overcome their pain. We strive for high standards of professionalism, openness and integrity but the services we deliver are not evangelistic.
Our Board of trustees and management hope that our work and the good that comes of it speaks of the love of God. We are very aware of the vulnerability of the victims we work with and we treat them with the highest level of cultural sensitivity. We serve victims that have come from all across the globe as well as the majority that come from Scotland. We celebrate the diverse mix of cultures within our services. Our Programme for women with life controlling issues is faith-based but we always make sure the client is aware and comfortable with the content of the programme before entering.
We provide in house training for all of our staff and volunteers. However we can also provide anti-trafficking training to any statutory or voluntary organisations. Our training course for this is called ‘Spot the signs’. The course includes trauma informed principles and trafficking care standards which provides communication methods and practical tools when working with identifying victims of human trafficking. Please contact kirsty.allan@searchlightscotland.org for more information.
We provide a tailored service to each person who applies to our programme and we will treat everyone on an individual basis. Life controlling issues can take many forms in a person’s life and can look very different for each situation. We have seen women with drug addictions, alcohol addictions, self harm, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, severe trauma, victims of domestic abuse and those with a history of suicide enter our care.
The PVG scheme
The Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) membership scheme is managed and delivered by Disclosure Scotland. It helps ensure people whose behaviour makes them unsuitable to work with children and protected adults cannot do 'regulated work' with these vulnerable groups.
How the scheme works
The application process involves gathering criminal records and other relevant information. This can be shared with the employer who is providing regulated work, unless the person applies to have a conviction removed from their PVG Scheme record.If the information shows the applicant might be unsuitable for regulated work, they'll be referred for further investigation as part of the 'consideration process'.
What Searchlight requires
Searchlight Scotland is legally required to have all staff and volunteers PVG checked before they can start working for us. If you already have a PVG in place for another organisation then you will still have to apply again with us. However the process is a lot quicker due to your existing PVG number you would have already received. The PVG check does not cost the volunteer or staff member personally.