Author: davepickering

Edinburgh reporter and photographer

SAHELIYA – a friend indeed

BME womens group Saheliya celebrate their twentieth birthday later this month. Saheliya is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘women friends’, and the project has been a true friend to many hundreds of women since it was established in July 1992. 

Manager Alison Davis explains that, although some issues being encountered are changing, the need for the support service remains as great as it ever did:

“Since 1992 Saheliya has been providing support to BME women in Edinburgh who have mental well-being issues – mainly women who are not accessing mainstream services. During these twenty years the profile of our service users has changed: now our average service user has moderate to severe rather than mild to moderate mental well-being problems. Their problems relate mainly to experiences such as racism, Islamaphobia, honour violence, in-law abuse, forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), trafficking, torture and other organised violence. Compared to only 1% five years ago, presently 38% of our service users are from refugee communities. For eighteen years, we had only one case of FGM; we now have FGM survivors on waiting lists for our services.

“We provide a wide range of learning activities to sustain recovery and to maximize social and economic integration; this includes accredited childcare training with the potential of work experience placements in our childcare service.

“Through our therapeutic and case work support and because of our organisational focus, we are able to identify changes in the local demographic profile and in needs for specialist services that are not easily identified by mainstream agencies or generally acknowledged by BME community organisations. Our organisational statistics and our specially devised database and monitoring and evaluation systems enable us to map mental health support needs, prevalence of harmful cultural practices, and effective support packages. Saheliya is an important resource for mainstream policy makers and service providers in planning responses to population changes and for service delivery.

“We believe that our wrap-around services, move-on opportunities, and collection of statistics makes us an important organisation for Edinburgh and for Scotland as a whole if we are to ensure inclusive services and achieve integration.”

The organisation is holding a

20th Anniversary Celebration Stakeholders Event

on Thursday 15 November from 9.30am to 1.30pm

an opportunity to meet staff, learn about Saheliya’s work and participate in workshops. 

For further information about the anniversary event, or about Saheliya’s range of services, telephone 556 9302 or email info@saheliya.co.uk

Working it Out with Tomorrow’s People

A free training programme in Muirhouse is looking for new participants.

If you are aged 16 – 24, unemployed, not in education or training and keen to learn new skills, meet new people and gain new experiences then please get in touch.

The Working It Out programme runs for 16 weeks and offers a range of activities and challenges that allow you to develop personal skills, volunteer in your own community, improve your job prospects and offer information and access to further education and training. Participants are supported throughout the programme and for up to 12 months after and all expenses are paid for the duration of the 16 week course.

Working it Out is run by Tomorrow’s People, based in North Edinburgh Arts Centre. If you are interested in making a positive change in your life, increasing your skills to help you get a job, or interested in getting back into education, then please contact Andrew or Heather on 07989669019 or e-mail aaldous@tomorrows-people.co.uk

Fireworks night passes off peacefully

Bonfire, Wester Drylaw Place

It’s the busiest time of year for the emergency services, but last night’s 5 November celebrations passed off relatively peacefully in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service received around 400 calls over 24 hours, a figure slightly down on previous years. Crews attended 140 bonfires across the force area and extinguished 78 of these.

Sadly, police had to come to the rescue of firefighters who came under attack while carrying out their duties at two separate incidents.

Bonfire, Muirhouse Green

 

 

Local author to launch debut crime novel

Local author Marianne Wheelaghan (pictured above) is launching her debut crime novel, Food of Ghosts, on Thursday. Marianne, who also runs a successful B&B, was a volunteer helper at a NENgage social media session in Stockbridge Library last month, and she’s delighted to share her latest news with NEN readers:
“I’m launching my debut crime novel, Food of Ghosts, on 8 November at Blackwell’s Bookshop, South Bridge (6.30pm). The event is FREE but ticketed, the tickets are available from the front desk. What will happen on the 8th: there will be a strong Pacific theme and I’ll say why I set my first thriller on a small coral atoll as far away as you can get from Scotland before coming back again!
“There will be bubbly and the opportunity to ask questions – as well as the chance to win a signed copy of the book. Food of Ghosts is my second novel, the first being the best-selling novel, The Blue Suitcase, which is based on my mother’s true-life story and tells the remarkable story of a teenage girl growing up in Nazi Germany.”
A tempting appetizer!

Tallest tree to lighten up the Botanics

PIC: RBGE The Edinburgh Garden poplar

A giant poplar tree is to be illuminated at The Botanics for Christmas.

Light artist Malcolm Innes will be lighting up the tallest tree in the Garden, a poplar which stands at almost one hundred feet tall.

The tree will be transformed with a mix of uplighting and sparkling lights from Friday 16 November, and the tree will be lit from 1 – 4pm every day throughout the festive season until Sunday, 6 January, brightening up those gloomy winter afternoons.

 

Celebrating Career Academies success at RHS

Nine Edinburgh schools have been taking part in Career Academies, a UK wide initiative that brings together the world of business and education to deliver an inspirational programme that includes mentoring, ‘guru lectures’ and internships.

The Royal High School in Barnton hosted an event to celebrate local achievements to date and to give all involved an opportunity to come together to share their experiences. Friday’s event brought together 86 S5/6 students involved in Career Academies, together with their 86 Partners in Business (PiBs) and inspirational Scottish mountaineer Jamie Andrew gave the keynote address.

Career Academy students follow a rigorous two-year enrichment programme alongside their school curriculum, which aims to help them progress to higher education or the world of work from a much more informed, inspired and confident base.

The targeted group of students are those that have been identified as having the potential to secure a place in higher education or employment with the support of a business mentor.  They begin in 5th year at school, aged 16, studying two to three Highers, and are likely to lack informal networks but have great potential.

Career Academies forms part of the city-wide strategy, the Edinburgh Guarantee, to help pupils move into work or education following secondary school.

Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener, said: “Career Academies is already proving to provide an invaluable opportunity to some of our pupils.  By giving them the confidence they need to take those first steps in the right direction we are increasing their chances of going on to do something they want once they finish school.  I would like to thank all the businesses and mentors for their involvement to date and to encourage other local businesses to get involved.”

Mark McFall, Managing Director of Change Recruitment, said, “Our aim in supporting career Academies UK was to make a difference to young people’s lives and provide them with an insight into the working environment.  What we probably didn’t expect was the impact on our business and our own people.  The students made a genuine contribution and also brought something different to the working environment that had a profound effect on all of us.  We now have so many more people within the business keen to play a part in supporting these terrific young people.”

Josh McLeish, an S6 pupil at Tynecastle High School, said: “I have found the Career Academies UK experience extremely helpful and beneficial over the past year. My internship over the summer was fantastic and has helped me gain valuable experience in the workplace which is normally very difficult to obtain. The people I worked with were brilliant and very helpful.  Not only was the internship great but so is having a mentor who helps me out and points me in the right direction.”

Anne Wexelstein, Career Academies UK Manager for Scotland, commented: “In the current economic climate, it’s vital that opportunities like this are on offer to young people to help them make the transition from school into the word of work.  The vast majority of us are in greater need of the right pre conditions and introductions with which to find our way to work.  We would like to say a big thank you to all the people who are making our partnership with Edinburgh City Council, its schools and the Capital’s employers such a great success. ”

Three of the nine schools involved have completed their first year and six new schools embarked on the scheme in August.

Businesses who have participated in Career Academies to date represented at the Royal High School conference include: AK Stoddart, BNY Mellon, BT, Cairn Energy, Capital Solutions, Citi Bank, Clydesdale Bank, Davidson Chalmers, DHL, Diageo, City of Edinburgh Council, Edutrain, Ernst & Young, Franklin Templeton, Hotel Missoni, JP Morgan, Lloyds Banking Group, Logica, Penna Right Management, Royal Bank of Scotland, RSM Tenon, Santander, Scottish Gas, Scottish Government, Scottish Widows, Sopra Group, The Big Partnership, The Scottish Government, The Witchery, Transport Scotland, Visit Scotland, Yorkshire Bank and Tree of Knowledge.

 

Accredited transport training at PEP

Pilton Equalities Project (PEP) is offering accredited transport training courses next month.

PEP is registered with the Community Transport Association funded through the City of Edinburgh Council and recognised as the community transport operator for the North Edinburgh quadrant. We are a partner of the Edinburgh Community Transport Operators Group (ECTOG)  – PEP, Dove Transport, SEAG, LCTS, & Handicabs.

PATS stands for Passenger Assistants Training Scheme, and has been developed for those people who undertake the role of passenger assistant (also known as escorts). The PATS programme is relevant for passenger assistants working in cars, minicabs, taxis, minibuses, large buses and coaches.

PATS is open to any organisation that employs, uses or supplies passenger assistants. An organisation does not have to be a member of the MiDAS training scheme to use the Passenger Assistant Training Scheme, and the training is also open to any organisation that uses volunteers as passenger assistants.

Limited places are available for the training, which takes place on

Wednesday 12 December at PEP in West Pilton Park.

MiDAS is the nationally recognised Minibus Driver Awareness training Scheme, organised by the Community Transport Association U.K. (CTA) which promotes a nationally recognised standard for the assessment and training of minibus drivers. It is a membership based scheme that is designed to enhance minibus driving standards and promote the safer operation of minibuses,

It comprises low cost classroom-based training, plus an on-road driving assessment, as well as optional Passenger Assistance training (PAT’s) for drivers who will be transporting passengers with disabilities

Criteria: (a) Aged over 21 years and (b) held a full Driving Licence for 2 years.

The MIDAS training course takes place on Thursday 13 December.

Interested? Contact PEP trainers Theodora or Brian on 315 4466 or email

theopepequalities@hotmail.co.uk or brianpeopequalities@hotmail.co.uk for further information.