Rise Up Sanctuary Scotland
Recovery is about relationships.
A supportive community built around kindness, shared experiences and meaningful journeys.
Discover RUSSWhy we're here
A grassroots response to rough sleeping, built around people.
RUSS is a voluntary community group with a simple starting point: nobody should have to rough sleep, and people should never be reduced to a single problem or a standard solution.
We believe people with lived experience, those who have spent years working on the frontline and the communities around them should be at the heart of what happens next. Choice, connection and human relationships matter.
Recovery is about relationships.
Into the West
Everyone deserves a break in life.
Into the West is RUSS's restorative retreat on Arran for people with a history of rough sleeping. There is no fixed programme: the experience is shaped around the person and what would genuinely help them.
It begins before arrival. Choosing the break, making plans and looking forward to travelling west are part of the experience, alongside time on the island to rest, connect, explore or simply breathe.
A journey filled with excitement, anticipation and hope.
Discover Into the WestCommunity on Arran
Bringing people together. Connecting and respecting.
RUSS is not just about giving somebody somewhere beautiful to stay. It is about creating the kind of ordinary human connections that can make a place feel welcoming rather than unfamiliar.
A shared meal, a walk, local knowledge, a lift, a conversation or simply spending time together can all be part of that. The hope is that visitors and island residents both gain something from the relationships that grow around Into the West.
Working together for change
The people closest to the problem should be closer to the solutions.
RUSS grew partly from frustration that decisions about rough sleeping can become too distant from the people living through it and the frontline workers who know the barriers first-hand.
Alongside Into the West, RUSS wants to work with other grassroots groups so that lived experience and frontline knowledge have a stronger voice in shaping practical, human responses.
Read why RUSS exists