A GOOD cause in the Wee County, developing skills with a unique understanding in lived experience of trauma, has last week been awarded a funding boost.

The Resilience Learning Partnership (RLP), which recently featured in the Advertiser with its Crafty Kids initiative during lockdown, has received National Lottery funding to continue its core work.

Around £73,000 has been donated and will enable the organisation to drive forward its very own Trauma Informed Education and Recruitment (TIER) training pathway over the next two years.

It will empower those who have lived experience of trauma to take the next step in their lives, realising their own aspirations and ambitions.

The initiative could help people into education, later allowing them to work in a field they are interested in.

Shumela Ahmed, managing director at the RLP, said in a social media post: "We can't thank our funders enough for believing in this work, believing in us and, most importantly, recognising the value, talent and true expertise that lived experience brings to the table.

"It is our mission to see more organisations like ours be able to access funding opportunities such as this and we strongly advocate for a new way of funding this type of work in Scotland.

"It is not lost on us that many of our friends in similar and smaller organisations are experiencing extreme difficulties right now and that something needs to change.

"We hope this funding not only allows us to do some life changing work through direct engagement but we also hope it begins to cement our place in the sector and helps prove that if you invest in lived experience organisations you will reap the benefits tenfold in the long run.

"Our brothers and sisters in the lived experience community need the same support and belief we have been shown to ensure there is a level playing field in the sector.

"We hope over the next two years we can continue to contribute to making that provision more accessible by continuing to advocate for an even playing field. This is not about equality, it's about equity for us."

The TIER initiative will sit alongside other training and education projects at the Clacks-based RLP, which has been bringing the expertise and knowledge of people with lived experience of trauma into the development of staff within the public, private and third sectors.