The Sanctuary Project

The Sanctuary Project is a vision thatI have had for many years working with some of the most vunerable children and young adults in Scotland and abroad.  Part of Trauma based practice is utilising the amazing outdoor environments that we are blessed with in Scotland and that is what the Sanctuary project is all about.  it involes the purchase of a suitable smallholduing holding of about10 to 15 acres that provides the HQ for OCG and a farming environment where the children can interact with agriculture, farm animals (and the odd dog or two), quiet spaces for play and relaxation.  Day trips will ensure the location is central and easily accessible by organisations bringing along their specialist staff and of course the children.  This service will be backed up with an online and hybrid organisational strategic business development model that will assist orgnaisations to achieve logevity, sustainbility, reach and influence.

THE MISSION

The Sanctuary Project is a national capacity-building initiative by O’Brien Consultancy Group, designed to strengthen independent residential care and special additional need education providers across Scotland.

The project will:

  • Support care and residential special school organisations delivering services to vulnerable children and young people, initially across Scotland.
  • Offer targeted consultancy, leadership development, and wellbeing support to Senior Staff, Boards and Senior Management Teams..
  • Help smaller providers facing regulatory, workforce, and financial challenges to remain stable and sustainable.

The Sanctuary will combine:

  • Horticultural and animal-assisted therapy areas
  • Outdoor learning and sensory spaces
  • Small group classrooms and reflection areas
  • Leadership and wellbeing facilities for the residential care and additional support needs workforce

This environment will provide structured opportunities for resilience building, emotional regulation, and skills development, using evidence-based therapeutic practice in natural settings.

Without support, many organisations risk closure — leading to reduced capacity in Scotland’s care system and fewer safe placements for vulnerable children and young people. Between 2022 and 2024 there were approximately 5 closures and a number of organisations were seeking to change their focus and level of support and service provision.

THE GOAL

The independent residential care and complex additional support needs sector in Scotland faces unprecedented pressure:

  • Increasing staff shortages and burnout are threatening quality and continuity of care and specialist education support.
  • Smaller providers lack access to affordable consultancy support and medium to more complex organisations also face less placing requests and placements due to resources and lack of professional and qualified staff.
  • Services supporting children with complex additional needs face financial instability and rising regulatory demands and grant aided organisations are about to lose their grants by 2028/29 which add a huge amount of unwelcome pressure.

The Sanctuary Project represents the next evolution of O’Brien Consultancy Group’s work — a permanent base in Central Scotland designed to enhance residential care, learning, and wellbeing for Scotland’s most vulnerable children and young people, to purchase and refurbish a smallholding farm property that will serve as:

  • OCG’s National Headquarters, .
  • The Sanctuary, a nature-based therapeutic and learning hub for children and young people with complex additional support needs (ASN), including profound autism drawn from partner residential care settings across Scotland.

THE FUNDING

Funding is been sought from relevant Trusts and charities that share the same vision and values.  An initial sum of £780k is been sought to purchase a smallholding farm of between 10 and 20 acres in the central part of Scotland.   The Santuary project will run alongside the online /hybrid consultancy services so providing a steady income to suport  the work of The Sanctuary.  

 

Currently OCG is seeking registration as a charity with OSCR and has set up a Board of Trustees and is in the process of forming an Advisory Committe from the fields of Residential Care and Addtional Support Needs Education including Autism.

 

Without doubt this is an ambitious project, but it is our goal to ensure that Scotland stays at the  forefront of innovative and appropriate ways of producing excellent outcomes for all our children and the organisations that care for and support them.

 

If you or your organisation would like to partner with us and contribute in anyway to this project, then go to the Payment Page and make your contribution ensuring that you clearly mark it for THE SANCTUARY PROJECT.

"Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it."

Habakkuk 2:2