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Riverside Community Trust
- Membership number 10300
- Charity registered in Scotland SC046273
Care & Share began in 2008 as a collaboration between Riverside Church and Ayrshire & Arran NHS Trust. Its initial aim was to support people affected by homelessness through providing a drop-in facility (with a meal) where health support could be provided and clients could be sign-posted to other relevant services. It has evolved over the past 14 years into an organisation providing a range of services to people in recovery from alcohol & drug issues and people affected by homelessness.
The core event each week is the drop-in facility where an average of 40 people per week can access social care, & health care services on a one-stop-shop basis. C & S is a central component of South Ayrshire’s alcohol and drug strategy and implements the Scottish Government Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC). C & S won the COSLA Gold Award in 2009 for its innovative practice. In 2016 the service became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation with a broad base of trustees. Today, Riverside Community Trust (RCT) is supported strongly by the local Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP), the CORRA Foundation and The Robertson Trust. RCT was also commissioned in 2022 by South Ayrshire Council and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to appoint and manage 2 Community Navigators to provide advocacy support to residents and to promote violence prevention in the immediate community.
The ‘covid years’ were very challenging for organisations like RCT through restrictions on the type of services that could be delivered, loss of volunteers and financial constraints. However, RCT used this time to reassess the local needs and how these needs should be met. There has been greater emphasis placed on paid peer support workers who provide street outreach and a one-to-one support service. This successful strategy is ongoing and is delivered in partnership with 2 other agencies - Connect for Change and SeaScape. RCT still provides a multi-agency drop-in service and 2 drop-in meals per week. It offers extensive volunteer opportunities for people in recovery and provides facilitates to other groups and services such as Cocaine Anonymous, the Community MH Team/Occupational Health and Social Work.
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