The Junction’s Creative Express project uses creative arts to support the health and wellbeing of local young people. It is a safe and confidential space where small groups of young people can express their thoughts and feelings about anything affecting their lives using a variety of creative media , including poetry, art, drama, creative writing, movement and music (writes Tessa Hughes). Continue reading By young people, for young people: Creative Canvases exhibition at The Junction
Young people from Deaf Action in Edinburgh and The Junction based in Leith gathered at the Scottish Parliament recently to launch the ‘My Travels’ postcard campaign, run by YouthLink Scotland. Continue reading Youth projects launch My Travels postcard campaign
The Junction is one of two local charities to benefit from the proceeds of the Trainspotting 2 auction, which will sell memorabilia from the Trainspotting 2 film. The online auction takes place next month to coincide with the film’s US release. Continue reading Junction to benefit from Trainspotting 2 auction
“It’s an honour for me to be able to support this organisation and indeed this community, both of whom I admire.” – Irvine Welsh
The Junction – Young People, Health & Well-being is a Leith based charity offering support to young people living in North East Edinburgh. Irvine Welsh was born in Leith and grew up in North East Edinburgh which gives him an understanding of the challenges these young people may face. Continue reading Healthy Respect: Junction patron Irvine Welsh drops in
Leith-based The Junction youth project has been awarded £30,000 from The King’s Fund. The Junction is the only Scottish project among ten recipients of a GSK IMPACT Award, which recognises excellence in health and wellbeing – and The Junction is one of a very select few to have won the award TWICE!
The GSK community investment programme has been running for 18 years, during which time it has awarded more than £5 million in unrestricted funding to charities across the UK. This year’s winning organisations were selected from more than 350 charities who applied for the GSK IMPACT Awards, which are run in partnership with The King’s Fund.
Winning charities are also given access to a free training and development programme and are invited to join the GSK IMPACT Awards Network. This Network offers previous winners the opportunity to develop their staff and provides a forum to share and learn from each other’s experiences and expertise.
This year’s winners will join more than 60 previous winning organisations from across the UK, who have committed to ongoing professional development, collaboration and delivering outstanding services to patients and communities.
An overall winner, who will receive an additional £10,000 in funding, will be announced at an award ceremony recognising all winners to be held at the Science Museum in London on Thursday 14 May 2015.
The winners were selected by a judging panel of health and charity experts including broadcast journalist Fiona Phillips; Gilly Green, Head of UK Grants at Comic Relief; Sir Christopher Gent, Chair of GSK; and Sir Chris Kelly, Chair of The King’s Fund.
Katie Pinnock, Director, UK & Ireland Charitable Partnerships at GSK, said: ‘These awards recognise charities that make an incredible difference to many people’s lives right across the country. The programme has grown immensely since we started in 1997, and we are extremely proud of the way it has brought people together, enabling them to share knowledge and learn from each other. Each year we are impressed, inspired and moved, not only by the innovation and talent in the work our winning charities undertake, but by the commitment and dedication of everyone involved.’
Sam Anderson, director at The Junction, said: “We are delighted at being a 2015 GSK Impact Award winner. Being a GSK Impact Award winner in 2009 provided the Junction with the platform to celebrate our strengths, develop and deepen. The 2015 GSK Impact Award offers fantastic recognition of all we have achieved in the six years since and provides us with both significant funding and development opportunities which will ensure we are able to continue to flourish.”
Lisa Weaks, Third Sector Programme Manager at The King’s Fund, said: ‘Charities provide important services and support in our health and social care system. These winners show just how much can be achieved with relatively limited funds, through the passion and dedication of the organisations and their volunteers. Their work spans the whole of our lives – they can help prevent young people from making detrimental decisions like taking up smoking, or provide support for people at the end of their lives so they can make the right decisions for them and their family. Their energy and commitment is inspirational.’
A Junction spokesperson added: “We have been named a winner of the GSK IMPACT Awards, and in fact we’re one of the rare organisations that have won twice! Not only is this a huge honour but it is a great way to recognise how The Junction has continued to strive for excellence year after year.”
The ten winners are:
Great Junction Street development launched
Port of Leith Housing Association and subsidiary company Persevere Developments Limited’s latest development has been officially opened by Malcolm Chisholm MSP.
The new affordable housing development at Great Junction Street consists of 32 high quality and energy efficient homes – nine one bedroom and 23 two bedroom properties – providing 20 new homes for social rent and 12 for mid market rent.
Located in the centre of a busy shopping street, the ground floor has also been designed as a large commercial space which has been leased to local community group, The Junction, providing health, education and support services to young people.
Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, said: “I am delighted to be officially opening this outstanding housing development which has been named as one of the top affordable housing developments in the UK. There is always a desperate need for more affordable homes in this city and I am pleased that once again Port of Leith Housing Association is providing such high quality, energy efficient homes.
“I am very pleased also that the superb The Junction is benefiting from spacious new premises on the ground floor.”
In keeping with the surrounding buildings, the exterior is stone and the properties feature Solar Thermal Heating provided by panels located on the roof.
The main contractor was CCG Limited and the architect was EMA. The £4.23million development was funded by a combination of private finance raised by PoLHA and a Government grant allocated by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Great Junction Street has recently been named as one of the top 50 affordable housing developments in the UK and is also shortlisted for a “Homes for Scotland” award.
Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of Port of Leith Housing Association, said:
“We are extremely pleased to have completed these new homes in what has been a complex and challenging process for us over the past few years. The development, design and construction team should be congratulated for their efforts.
“Working closely with the City of Edinburgh Council and other funders we are able to provide much needed additional high quality, energy efficient and affordable homes in the heart of Leith plus the added bonus of enabling The Junction, which is a highly valued local community project, to locate its services in new modern facilities.”
PoLHA has built the mid market rent homes on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary company Persevere Developments Ltd (PDL) which was set up in 2011 to enable the Association to offer a wider variety of affordable housing in future.
PoLHA owns over 2700 properties throughout Leith and the wider North Edinburgh area and has plans to deliver 400 more new affordable homes over the next few years through the Association and its subsidiary Persevere Developments Limited.
Pictured: (left to right: Keith Anderson (PoLHA Chief Executive), Jack Hunter (PoLHA Chairman), Great Junction Street tenant Julie Crawford, Malcolm Chisholm MSP and Philip Neaves (Chairman of Persevere Developments Ltd).
Junction moves just along the road – to a new world!
Sir Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, has officially opened The Junction’s new premises.
Based at 160 Great Junction Street for eight years, the community organisation has now moved to 82-86 Great Junction Street and is leasing the brand new premises from Port of Leith Housing Association.
Set up in 2005 by the organisation’s Director Sam Anderson as a partnership response to an action research project, The Junction provides confidential health related services, education and support for young people aged 12-21 in Leith and North East Edinburgh. It has helped thousands of young people in the city and has author Irvine Welsh as its patron.
The Junction’s Sam Anderson said: “We are delighted to have Sir Harry Burns officially open our new premises. It’s important to listen to young people and find out what they think and want, which is why they have been consulted throughout the evolution of the Junction.”
Sam added: “We continue to be able to successfully respond to the expressed health and wellbeing needs of local young people because of the partnership nature of our work. Port of Leith Housing Association is a key partner, committed to delivering a quality, purpose built building for our award winning work in supporting young people, and has done so to brilliant results.
“We owe them an immense debt as while just a few hundred yards along the road from our old premises our new space feels a world away.”
Sir Harry Burns said: “Young people are the lifeblood of the community and it’s imperative they are supported to grow their health and wellbeing. This is why organisations, such as The Junction should be applauded for the tremendous work it does.”
Patron Irvine Welsh said: “Omnipresent, The Junction is there at the heart of the community offering education, support and its own distinctive brand of loyalty and determination to do the best it can for local young people. It’s an honour for me to be able to support this organisation and indeed this community, both of whom I admire.”
One in two Scots harmed as a result of someone else’s drinking
More needs to be done to raise awareness about the negative effects of other peoples’ drinking, according to Alcohol Focus Scotland. The charity has published research which examines for the first time how alcohol impacts on people around the drinker causing stress, distress and disharmony to family members, friends, colleagues and the wider community.
The research found:
Dr Evelyn Gillan, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said:
“Our research shows just how far-reaching alcohol harm is. One in two Scots are affected in some way by other people’s drinking. This can range from feeling uneay at aggressive behaviour on the bus, picking up the slack at work becuase a colleague has called in sick with a hangover, or children living with heavy drinking parents and the strain this inevitably places on family life.
“Many of these problems are not being reported, either because they are simply tolerated or because they are going on behind closed doors. When people began to understand the negative effects of passive smoking, action was taken. It’s time we started to think beyond the individual drinker to consider how we can protect people from the second-hand effects of drinking.
“If we want to reduce the harm that alcohol causes, then we must tackle the widespread availability and promotion of cheap alcohol through measures such as minimum pricing. But we also need to ensure that individuals, families, workplaces and communities who are being negatively affected by other people’s drinking, receive the support they require.”
Sam Anderson, Director at The Junction, a young people’s health and wellbeing project in North Edinburgh which took part in the research said:
“Young people are often identified as one of the groups who are ‘problem drinkers’. However, our work with young people shows us that they are often negatively affected by someone else’s drinking. That could be a parent, a friend, or a stranger in the street. This can cause stress, worry and in more extreme cases, depression, panic attacks and self-harm. This is a big issue and more needs to be done to support young people who are being negatively affected. The Junction has recently launched a new pilot project funded by Edinburgh ADP which will support young people in this situation in the north Edinburgh area.”
Police Officer Geraldine Richardson, who participated in the research, added:
“I often see neighbours being put under stress by someone who has had too much to drink. For example, a drunk person can’t get their key in the lock so they buzz every flat or bang on the doors. This can be particularly distressing for older people. They are just at home minding their own business and they’re being disturbed by someone who has been drinking.
“People can struggle to get up for work as they’ve had to endure music, shouting and partying all through the night. It can lead to poor relationships with neighbours. Police Scotland will do what it can to help people keep safe in their own homes.”
Young Persons Map
The Junction, a health and wellbeing project for young people aged 12-21, has developed and delivered a young person’s mapping project which is based on the principles and features of the Asset Based Approach.
The key feature of asset based working is valuing the potential, skills, knowledge and connections present in individuals and their communities.
During creation of the map staff spoke with young people in their community during streetwork; each map shows where young people hang out, places they feel safe and where they go for support as well as what they saw as the best thing about their area.
The maps were made during May and June at The Junction in Leith, Granton Youth Centre (GYC), Pilton Youth & Community Project (PYCP) and Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG).
Young people attending their regular drop-in at each organisation were given the chance to get involved and those that took part were aged from 12 to 17.
There are 4 maps in total – each is 9ft x 6ft and is made of tie dye material, each map is unique and made up from photos, young people’s comments and opinions about their area.
This is just the beginning; each organisation will be given the map to use as a resource to use with the young people of that area.
Feel free to email any comments you may have about the maps.
With special thanks to NEAIC (North Edinburgh Alcohol Initiative Collaborative)
