Scotland’s overburdened prison estate currently houses a population of around 8,000 people, a figure that puts it among the highest per capita in western Europe. With that number projected to rise in the coming months, the time to shift towards more sustainable and effective justice solutions is now.

Sacro is delighted to announce the addition of three new members to its Board of Trustees.

Brian, one of our Veterans Mentors on retelling his own, highly personal story.

At this time of year, as with every year, Sacro remembers those who have lost their lives in past and present conflicts across the world.

In the run up to this year's Remembrance Day, the Sacro Veterans Mentoring Service, together with other staff and managers from Sacro were joined by Sacro Board member, Eric Fraser (who was also Scotland's first Veterans Commissioner) on a tour of the Poppy Scotland factory.

Fighting with Pride support LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel and their families, particularly those who were affected by the ‘gay ban’, ultimately lifted in January 2000. Before then, thousands of LGBT+ service personnel were removed or forced from service and abandoned, after serving with pride.

Sacro is currently looking for three Trustees to join its Board. Our Board sets the strategic direction of the organisation, safeguards the use of resources and ensures the highest standards of governance, management, propriety and conduct for the organisation.

Due to the volume of applications received, all Sacro Trust grant applications will now be assessed using a scoring system

#VolunteersWeekScot

Information on how to make a referral to visiting housing support services in Edinburgh

#VolunteersWeekScot

#VolunteersWeekScot

#VolunteersWeekScot

Shine, a national mentoring service for women with recent experience of the justice system in Scotland, proudly marked its 10-year anniversary at the iconic Edinburgh City Chambers today

Sacro is delighted to have received funding from the Veterans Foundation.

Last week two of our Garden Project participants at Tollcross Allotments and Park received their Grow and Learn Awards

Do you enjoy driving, meeting new people and making a difference?

The Lothian Veterans Centre (LVC) runs a drop-in centre for forces veterans living in the Dalkeith, Midlothian and surrounding locality.

To bring some cheer this Christmas, the Aura team reached out to family and friends, asking for donations via an Amazon Wish List; created to provide gifts to the children and young people of Aura service users.

For 14 weeks from August to November, serving personnel from 6SCOTS joined staff from Sacro’s Veterans Mentoring and Forces of Nature services, to complete the John Muir Way. They were accompanied along the way by armed forces veterans who have received Sacro support.

Sacro is currently recruiting two influential executive positions at Sacro: Head of Justice Services and Head of Policy and Engagement.

Sacro is committed to embedding equalities, diversity, and inclusion in everything to ensure that we are a truly inclusive organisation

Competion to design wall mural will honour fallen veteran, Brodie Gillon.

Sacro's Chief Executive, Annie Mauger-Thompson reflects on the people who make Sacro.

We are deeply sad to announce the passing of our friend and colleague Alan Shand. Alan passed away last Thursday following an illness which he has faced bravely over the past year or so.

Sacro is delighted to welcome three new members to its Board of Trustees: Jon Beck, Alistair Brown and Jayne Laidlaw. The new Trustees bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the Board at an exciting time for Sacro as it implements its progressive new strategy.

Many congratulations to Sacro's Muriel Hanlon on completing Cancer Research UK's Race for Life. Muriel is an administrator with our Aura service in North Lanarkshire and completed the Glasgow 10k run yesterday (22/05), raising £1,125 for the charity.

Sacro has received funding to continue delivering its Veterans Mentoring Service (VMS) throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians for a further three years. The award from The National Lottery Community Fund, made possible by National Lottery players, comes at a time of increased demand for the service. 

Women who have been involved in the Scottish justice system are relating their experiences, and the support they received from the Shine Women's Mentoring service, in a new podcast.

Sacro’s Community Payback Service (CPS) in Glasgow has provided a local primary school with some fabulous new playground furniture.

Since 1971, Sacro has been a pioneer in establishing ground-breaking services across the country with the aim of making Scotland a place of safety, inclusiveness, and wellbeing for everyone

Sacro's Forces of Nature Service is delighted and honoured to accept a donation of £2,000 in the name of the late Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon, a Reservist Combat Medical Technician, Royal Army Medical Corp, of the Scottish and Northern Irish Yeomanry. Brodie was tragically killed aged 26 years, on 11 March 2020 whilst out in Camp Taji, Iraq

Sacro is delighted to welcome three new members to its Board of Trustees: Howard Elliot, Zahra Hedges and Sheriff David Mackie. The new Trustees bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the Board at an exciting time for Sacro as it celebrates its 50th anniversary with a progressive new strategy and brand identity.

A group of armed forces veterans serving community sentences in West Dunbartonshire have devised a PTSD-themed stage play which they recently performed online for a small, invited audience. The time they spent in these workshops counted towards the community sentence hours they had been issued by the court.

Thanks to our charity partners at St Andrews Fashion Show for this fabulous opportunity to win some goodies and support our FearFree service: helping support male and LGBT+ people affected by domestic abuse. Although FS2021 have been unable to hold physical events this year, charity remains at the heart of FS and they have arranged an online raffle to raise funds for our FearFree service.

Sacro is delighted to announce the appointment of Kerri Maciver to its Board.

Sacro is a national charity working with people who are caught up in the criminal justice system in some way, or simply struggling to get support. We work in a holistic way with people locally, in partnership with local authorities and other providers to provide help and hope.

Volunteers’ Week takes place every year from 1 – 7 June and is a time to say thank you for the fantastic contribution volunteers make. Volunteers are absolutely vital to the work Sacro does so we thought this week, we would ask them to explain in their own words, why they decided to volunteer with Sacro and what volunteering means to them.

The Scottish Government has published information on the new social security benefits which are being devolved to the Scottish Government under the Scotland Act 2016. These include a range of powers over disability and carers, as well as powers to make administrative changes to Universal Credit and vary the housing costs element. The toolkit has been produced by the Scottish Government and provides resources and information about the significant changes happening in the field of social security in Scotland.

The current global public health situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is placing unprecedented challenges on us all and we recognise this has the potential to impact on the services we deliver. With this in mind, I would like to set out some of the steps Sacro is taking to minimise disruption to services.

Following an extensive search and selection process I am pleased to be able to announce that Sacro’s next Chief Executive will be Annie Mauger-Thompson. Annie is an experienced leader in the not for profit sector and currently runs her own consultancy company supporting different organisations in the charity sector. She has recently been working as an interim Chief Executive with ACOSVO and has been interim Chief Executive for Inverclyde CVS.

Renowned criminologist, author and broadcaster, Prof. David Wilson delivered the 2019 Sacro Lecture at a packed Signet Library in Edinburgh.

Click, a new digital safety, support and wellbeing service for women selling sex online has been launched in response to the changing nature of prostitution in Scotland.

Sacro Edinburgh services held an open day on 19 February to showcase its volunteering opportunities. Aimed at recruiting volunteers for its services, the event attracted over 50 people on the day and included representation from all Sacro services in the area. Sacro staff and volunteers were on hand all day to promote the rewards and benefits of volunteering and advise on available opportunities. They also helped potential volunteers to complete applications on the day.