In the past year, the Relationships Scotland Network provided face-to-face support for over 15,000 people across the country

The Relationships Scotland Network offers a unique Scotland-wide family and relationship support service. Our Network of 22 Member Services helps people cope with relationship problems, separation and divorce. We work with individuals, couples, families and children to help reduce conflict, improve communication and ensure that people are supported to manage times of crisis and relationship breakdown.

Our Network provides relationship counselling, family mediation, child contact centres and many other forms of related family support, including psychosexual therapy, Parenting Apart Groups and children’s counselling.

Our work has a strong focus on early intervention and prevention. We work with families as early as we can, supporting them to look at the issues they are facing and helping them avoid letting things get worse. Through our highly trained counsellors, mediators and other practitioners, we provide a high quality and professional support service across the country, and our work is supported by around 1,000 people in total, including around 400 volunteers.

Our recent survey The Way We Are Now 2015, which looked at the state of relationships in Scotland and across the UK, found that while 87% of people reported having good relationships, 24% had experienced the break-up of their parents’ relationship and this had the potential to have a lasting impact on their lives. More than anything, our research showed that strong relationships act as shock absorbers through life’s many challenges and remain central to our overall well-being and sense of self-worth.

The work of the Relationships Scotland Network supports the Scottish Government’s vision for children, young people and their families. We fully support the aspirations of the National Parenting Strategy and The Early Years Framework. Our work operates within the guiding principles of Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) and also supports several of the 15 National Outcomes which underpin the Single Outcome Agreement between the Scottish Government and every Local Authority in Scotland.

We are again grateful to the Scottish Government for their ongoing support of the Relationships Scotland Network. We are grateful also to the Big Lottery in Scotland for their support of our child contact centres, which help ensure that non-resident parents maintain and strengthen relationships with their children following separation and/or divorce.

We would like to express our thanks to the 22 Member Services who provide such a high level of care and support to individuals, couples and families across the country. We would also like to pay particular thanks to the staff team at the Relationships Scotland National Office for the excellent work that they do, and also to the Directors who serve on the National Board.

The Relationships Scotland Network continues to work with our many partners across the country to make our vision a reality: Positive and Respectful Relationships at the Heart of Scotland.

Download Relationships Scotland Annual Review 2015

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