The operations of the STAR are divided into three areas: Options 4 Adults, Options 4 Families, and Options 4 Youth.  Services and activities are delivered by the Project Manager, Women’s Support Worker and a team of 13 volunteers.

Options 4 Adults hinges around a focussed Women’s Support Work programme led by Sharon McAulay with additional volunteer-led activities like the daily Drop In.

Women’s Support Work combines outreach, groupwork and 1-2-1 support to help women become less isolated, develop networks of support, better coping skills, greater self-worth, confidence and life opportunities.  This combats the significant inequality in emotional, social and familial burdens carried by local women which frequently leave them diminished and oppressed. The Community Friends scheme extends the level of 1-2-1 support by developing a team of volunteer befrienders alongside the Women’s Support Worker. The Drop In establishes an open door so people can seek help or advice on any issue but also functions as a social place where people can be themselves, without condition or expectation, thus reducing isolation and nurturing peer support.

In September 2007 we led a visit to Soweto in South Africa in partnership with two other local groups.   Women from STAR worked alongside the Doornkop Community Development Organization to deliver workshops helping local people explore their experience in the light of the Millennium Development Goals and begin to take action to make change in their community.  The pre-visit process of planning and awareness-raising had a huge impact on the women in developing skills and confidence.  The trip itself, though intense and demanding, was massively rewarding and deeply challenging.  The group are currently working through their experience to prepare a series of presentations and workshops which will be delivered around Paisley and Glasgow in early 2008.

Options 4 Youth is currently limited to annual summer programmes of activity clubs & teen drop ins through the school holidays and, through the year, a joint group providing weekly arts activities for autistic children with  local parent-led group ‘Artism’.  We are beginning to work with our local Community Learning and Development Officer towards establishing and supporting a local Youth Forum.

Options 4 Families includes a weekly parent toddler group, in partnership with local health visitors, which provides fun and friendship as well as space for informal education and support in parenting.  We also offer several anti- poverty initiatives designed to help families stretch their money such as a nappy co-op and a Christmas Savings Club.  At Christmas and Easter we organize community celebration events sharing the joy of these festivals across the community.  In school holidays we provide family activities and outings to promote positive relationships within families and across generational boundaries within the community and to help families through some of the tensions of the long summer vacation.

Together these programmes create a responsive, comprehensive and affirmative project bringing together people across the community. Around 350 adults and children from the North End of Paisley benefit each year becoming less isolated, growing in self-esteem, better connected in informal friendships and with support agencies and developing competencies to better cope with the challenges they face in life.

A key facet of STAR’s approach is to work wherever we can in partnership and complementary relationship with other agencies.  This includes developing joint projects, being active in various networks, making and receiving referrals to support individual clients, and supporting the ongoing engagement of clients with other agencies.  A list of our working relationships in the last year and full details of our work can be found in our most recent Annual Review 2006-2007.