After more than two years of development The REAL Toolkit is now LIVE and ready to use. Here's how.

You can use the Real Toolkit in any way that you find useful. Our suggestion is to follow these steps: Be curious, find information and read the guides.

Step 1: Be Curious

Do you have a specific question or do you just want to explore? You can start by typing a question into the search bar or by exploring a topic on either the Workforce page or the Young People page. You can explore all parts of the website, whether you are a young person or a member of the workforce. Either way, being curious will lead you to answers you might not have expected. This toolkit does not try to give you the answer to everything, but give you the tools to find the answers yourself

Step 2: Find Information

The information on this website is organised in a few different ways, so that you can find the information you easily. If you are a young person, there is a page created for you where the Guides are organised by topics. You can also search for any question, word or topic in the search bar. At the bottom of each Guide we will suggest other Guides that might be interesting for you. For the Workforce the information is organised similarly, with the addition of categories.

Step 3: Read Guides

At the heart of the Real Toolkit are the Guides. A Guide is a short text with a focus on a question or topic. The Guides are where you can find inspiration, information, and practical advice. Each Guide has three sections: Feel, Know, Do. These are important aspects of achieving the Toolkit’s aims: making sure that young people who grow up in care, experience Relationships, Empathy and Love. Feel, know and do are equally important. In the Feel section you can expect to read why a certain topic is important, based on lived experience. In the Know section you can expect to read about some facts, research and background behind a topic. Finally, the Do section will give you some practical advice and potentially outline some next steps. It is important though to remember, that we are not trying to tell you what to do, and by no means can the Real Toolkit be ‘complete’ – we just give you the tools, we still need you to go out and use them in a way that fits your life and practice.

Now that you know how to use the real toolkit, get exploring here – www.therealtoolkit.scot