Well folks, that's it - the end of a chapter in Hawick.
What began as a dream and a determination to create safe spaces for people to heal, grow and reconnect became so much more than we could ever have imagined. In October, A Positive Start CIC will celebrate 9 years of supporting our community, and if we're fortunate enough, our 10th anniversary next year will be celebrated from our new home at Harestanes Tower.
Over the years, we have met some incredible people, shared thousands of conversations, delivered workshops, training, counselling and support, and watched people discover strengths they never knew they had. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has trusted us with their stories and walked alongside us on this journey.
As we said goodbye to Sandbed on Friday, something rather lovely happened. Rather than sending furniture and resources to landfill, we placed them outside with a simple ‘Free to Take Home’ sign. Within hours, every chair, table, cupboard, picture, mirror, plant, cushion, clothes rail, and resource had been rehomed by members of the community. It felt like a fitting end to one chapter – a reminder that even when something ends, it can continue to serve others in a new way.
Our New Home
Monday 1st June 2026, we are excited to say hello to our new home:
A Positive Start CIC, Harestanes Tower, Ancrum, Jedburgh, TD8 6UQ – where we continue to provide person-centred counselling, trauma-informed therapy, psychoeducation, group workshops, community wellbeing projects, and preventative safeguarding programmes. We create safe spaces where people can reconnect with themselves and others, develop understanding, build resilience, and move towards the life they choose to live.
Filled with natural light, surrounded by beautiful countryside, and thoughtfully designed to be a warm, welcoming and trauma-informed space, Harestanes feels like the next step in our journey. A Place where people can feel safe, heard, valued and supported.
We hope you’ll come along and see the new space for yourself at our Summer Solstice Woodland Wellbeing Open Weekend on 20th & 21st June, from 12-4 pm. Join us, the wonderful team from the My Body is My Body Foundation (MBIMB), our friends Teri Bikes Hawick, Instinctively Wild CIC, our new neighbours at Harestanes, and many others for what promises to be a fun, welcoming and enjoyable weekend for all ages.
Our Open Weekend has been kindly supported by Greenspace Scotland’s #Parks4Life Fund, helping us bring the community together in our beautiful new surroundings.
Finally, a huge thank you to Ben, Garry and the team at Lothian Estates. They have worked incredibly hard to ensure everything was ready for our arrival – we couldn’t be more grateful for their support or more excited about the future. We’d also like to thank Wilsons Signs of Hawick for coordinating the transfer of our signage from Sandbed to Harestanes, helping us carry a familiar piece of our journey into this exciting new chapter.
To everyone who has supported us over the last nine years – thank you. We look forward to welcoming old friends, new faces, and continuing our mission of supporting community mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellbeing from our beautiful new home.
Here’s to new beginnings.
Here’s to A Positive Start.
Open Weekend at A Positive Start CIC.Sat 20th & Sun 21st June 2026
12 - 4 pm
Harestanes Tower, Jedburgh, TD86UQ
Everyone Welcome
Mapping the Journey
(Feb 2026)
In Search of a New Home
As many of you may know, our lease at Sandbed is due to end in May 2026 - those last 3-years have flown by!
Sandbed has been a wonderful home for A Positive Start CIC. It gave us the opportunity to bring therapy onto the high street (almost), create our thrift shop, and build a visible presence in our community. But as our work continues to grow, it has become clear that we are ready for the next stage - a space more naturally suited to reflection, regulation and healing than on a busy roundabout in the town.
We have been exploring possibilities locally because Hawick has been our home for the last ten years. We've spoken with people about ideas that might allow the project to remain in the town, but the premises that would support our vision are already planned for other uses.
May 2023-2026 8 Sandbed, Hawick.
Thank you for being part of our journey
The Tower at Harestanes
One Sunday, feeling the pressure of needing somewhere safe and suitable for the project to continue - and for our clients to feel supported - Andy and I set out for a drive to look at rural options instead.
With each place we visited, there seemed to be something missing. Sometimes parking wasn't suitable, sometimes access was difficult. Sometimes, the space simply didn't feel right.
Tired and ready to head home, we happened to pass Harestanes Visitor Centre. I suggested we stop for a cup of tea and something to eat, as we hadn't had lunch.
As we pulled into the car park, right in front of us - almost as if by magic - was a building to let - known locally as the tower at Harestanes.
Inner Knowing
It immediately felt like exactly what we had been looking for.
Even more remarkably, we had just been talking about creating relaxed reflection afternoons, where visitors could spend time in the countryside and enjoy something simple like an afternoon tea - and there beside the Tower, the perfect dining experience already offering exactly that.
I contacted the landlord's office straight away. Their team couldn't have been more helpful. Garry met with us, listened carefully to what we hoped to create, and shared our vision with the landlord while arranging an on-site meeting.
After that first visit, I invited my colleague Vanessa to come and see the space to see how she felt about it - and she loved it just as much as we did. We stayed for a meal in the lovely restaurant, which was delicious, and as we sat together talking, we both found ourselves getting excited about the possibilities the space offered and the ideas that were beginning to take shape for what the wellbeing community at Harestanes could become.
Shared Experience
I also brought a couple of people who use our services to visit Harestanes to hear their thoughts, followed by a few volunteers. Their reactions meant a great deal to me. Our vision is 'a wellbeing community so we were delighted that they loved the setting and immediately understood why it felt like the right place for the next stage of A Positive Start CIC.
As we began speaking with the wider team, the same response kept coming back. A sense of excitement about what this space could become. From that point on, it began to feel less like we had simply found a building and more like we had found the right home for the well-being community we have been hoping to create.
We are now preparing to move into the Tower and begin the next stage of A Positive Start CIC - the creation of the Harestanes Wellbeing Community.
Over the coming weeks, we will be documenting the journey as we prepare the space and plan for our opening day at Harestanes. We would love you to follow along with us and be part of this next chapter as the wellbeing community begins to take shape.
Please join us on this exciting adventure
You can follow updates here:
Facebook:@APSCIC | Instagram:apscic_moving_to_harestanes
Our Harestanes Wellbeing Community
Visualisation - How Thoughts Become Things
(Feb 2026)
For many years, I have held a vision of creating a setting like this, surrounded by light and connected to nature — a place where small groups can gather, learn together, share experiences, and build stronger connections with themselves and others.
That vision is beginning to take shape at Harestanes, as A Positive Start CIC prepares for the next stage of its journey — creating a peaceful space for connection, learning and emotional wellbeing in the Scottish Borders.
Over the years, we have supported many people through counselling, workshops and trauma-informed learning. During that time, one thing has become very clear: people benefit deeply from spaces where they can slow down, reflect and reconnect in a calm and supportive environment where they feel safe – both physically and emotionally.
We hope you’ll consider joining us and becoming part of our wellbeing community here — whether as a partner, collaborator, volunteer, student, supporter, or someone simply looking for a place to connect and grow.
Watch out for announcements about our upcoming Open Day as we prepare to welcome visitors into the space and share what is beginning.
Healing happens in relationships.
Positive outcomes begin with A Positive Start.
From humble Beginnings - Still Humble
The roots of A Positive Start stretch back much further than our official CIC launch in 2017.
They began in 2006, following yet another crash after years of surviving rather than living. At the time, I found myself once again trying to rebuild my life and make sense of experiences that seemed destined to repeat themselves.
'Different places, different faces, same old set of circumstances'.
Previously considered by the system to be "furthest from the labour market", I was not viewed as someone likely to lead an organisation, influence policy, support others in recovery, or build community projects.
Yet it was those difficult moments that the seeds of A Positive Start were planted.
Sitting in a cold council house, no longer battered and bruised but just as stuck and confused as I'd always been, and now with more questions than answers, I began a journey of curiosity. I wanted to understand why trauma leaves such a lasting imprint, why people struggle, and what helps people recover. That search for understanding became a lifelong commitment to learning, healing, and helping others.
Nearly two decades later - and more than three since the trauma- while much has changed, one thing remains the same: humility. A Positive Start has grown from an idea into a thriving community organisation, but our purpose has never changed. We remain grounded in the belief that every person deserves to be seen, heard, understood and treated with dignity.
The journey of A Positive is, in many ways, a journey of trauma recovery itself - a story of resilience, hope, connection and possibility. It is living proof that our past does not have to define our future, and that with understanding, support and opportunity, positive change is always possible.