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Kathleen Nutt on a bold intiative to help female offenders rehabiliate
"I couldn't have done this interview without going into the toilet and taking a couple of lines of cocaine," she explains.
The 40-year-old mother-of-four is one of three people I meet who have completed a ground-breaking project aimed at helping women struggling with addiction and/or offending.
Just like Susan, Ann, 33, and Margaret, 36, struggled for many years with substance abuse –although in their case alcohol was the cause – and lacked the strength to break free from destructive relationships.
That changed when they got involved with the Next Steps project run by Edinburgh-based Venture Trust.
For the past 30 years the charity has run a project for young people involved in offending, a key part of which is a "self-development" programme based at its centre at Applecross in Wester Ross. By taking part in a series of outdoor challenges participants reflect on what they want to do with their lives and how to achieve that.
The project, Living Wild, is successful and established – it has been supported financially by the Scottish Government for 10 years and can be used as a disposal by sheriffs.
But few of the people taking part in it were women and the charity felt there was a need for a female-only initiative.
Next Steps was launched in 2010 to fulfil that need. Like Living Wild it is a three-part programme; the first assessing and preparing those taking part, the second the wilderness challenge and the final the resettlement back into the community.
One difference between the two is that while trust staff are responsible for each of the stages in Living Wild, in Next Steps, the staff work with outside agencies in both the first and final phase, and are solely responsible for the wilderness element.
Current partners include criminal justice teams in Aberdeen, Dundee and Falkirk, the 218 and the Willow projects for women offenders in Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively and also the addiction support group Addaction.
To date 60 women aged from 16 to 57 have completed Next Steps and this year the programme received a positive evaluation by Edinburgh University.
It is the type of initiative likely to become more common in Scotland as its approach reflects many of the key recommendations put forward by former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini in her report on women offenders published in April.
One of its central aspects was the importance of addressing the high number of low-level women offenders who ended up in prison as a result of addiction, abuse and poor mental health. Responding to Dame Angiolini's report, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill stressed that for female offending to fall, vulnerable women needed help in tackling those issues.
For Susan, Ann and Margaret Next Steps did precisely that. Each managed with the help of Addaction to get off drugs or alcohol but they still faced serious problems in their lives.
Margaret suffered panic attacks and barely left the house after being attacked by her estranged husband. Ann was trying to break free from her alcoholic partner of 12 years, while Susan was living in a homeless hostel after leaving her abusive husband.
All were among a group of 10 women who took part in Next Steps six-day wilderness challenge at Applecross in March. The experience included many firsts for them: abseiling, camping out overnight, hillwalking and even pier-jumping.
They all say it not only gave them time to reflect away from their difficult home environments but ultimately helped turn their lives around.
"Applecross had a hugely dramatic affect on me," said Margaret. "It was probably the first time in my life I was surrounded by people who really cared and genuinely wanted to help."
Six months on, Margaret has transformed her life, leaving behind her reclusive existence to find work as a volunteer at Addaction and also take courses in Gaelic and in computing.
The challenge had similar impacts on Ann and Susan. Returning home, Susan left her husband and found a new flat, while Ann also ended her relationship. Together they have started a weekly self-help group.
A number of factors are responsible for Next Steps's success, according to the Venture Trust.
One is the strength of its partnership working with other groups, both at the outset and also when the women settle back in their communities.
But the wilderness experience remains fundamental.
"People get the opportunity to take off their usual masks by being in a totally different environment," said Joe Connelly, head of programmes at Venture Trust.
"We're able to tap into the potential of who they can be rather than who they think they are – especially if they've been labelled as offenders or drug addicts or alcoholics."
The physical challenge presented by being outdoors in an extreme environment is also a catalyst for change.
"There's an immediacy about the wilderness and about the activities the women do," he said.
"They may have struggled or been scared, but they've overcome those difficulties and that gives them a belief in themselves."
Margaret describes standing terrified on the edge of a pier deciding whether or not to take the plunge. Today it's become a metaphor for her new confident approach to life.
"It was the most frightened I'd ever been. The rain was pouring down, the sky was black, the sea dark, yet I jumped.
"Now whenever I'm worried about doing something I think back to how I plucked up the courage to give the pier-jump a go and even though I'm anxious I know I can always try."
n The women's names have been changed.
www.venturetrust.org.uk
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