Built in Irvine, for Irvine
Vibrant Health Advocates – Slate is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation based in Irvine, North Ayrshire. We exist because the transition out of care is one of the steepest health cliffs a young person can face. At the point where many of their peers have parents to call for advice, care leavers are often navigating GP waiting rooms, pharmacy queries, and mental health crises entirely alone. Our work is to make sure that is not the case in Irvine — and to do it in a way that builds lasting capability rather than ongoing dependency.
We are a small, experienced team with deep roots in North Ayrshire's voluntary and statutory sectors. Our programmes are co-designed with young people who have been through the care system themselves, which means the content is grounded in real need rather than assumptions about what care leavers should want to know. We hold ourselves to evidence-based practice: our health literacy curriculum draws on frameworks developed by NHS Education for Scotland and the Health Literacy Place, and we work closely with NHS Ayrshire & Arran to ensure our guidance is accurate, current, and locally relevant.
Irvine matters to us. As one of Scotland's designated new towns, built with ambition and a strong sense of community identity, it has a resilient spirit — and its harbour area and coastline give young people a landscape that genuinely supports wellbeing when they know how to use it. We incorporate that environment into our work wherever possible, from outdoor wellbeing walks along Irvine Beach Park to community allotment sessions that connect nutrition skills with the local food-growing movement. We are proud to be an Irvine organisation, not simply an organisation that operates in Irvine.
