Tag: Health and wellbeing

Charities to support more women and families

Third-sector organisations are set to increase the availability of services for mums at risk of poor mental health during and after pregnancy.

A grant of £225,000 has been allocated to 11 organisations as part of a £1 million investment in perinatal mental health services for mums and families announced by the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman in August.

All the organisations will also be offered additional perinatal mental health training for staff.

Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey said: “Mental illness during and after pregnancy is common, affecting one in five women. We want all mums to get the best possible support, and working with third sector partners is one way we can widen access to services and advice.

“Charities provide an invaluable service by offering peer-to-peer support and counselling and helping to build confidence to help make the leap into parenthood and family life a bit easier.  

“We are investing £50 million to improve perinatal and infant mental health services and it is vital that women, young children and families are able to access services in the right place at the right time.”

List of third-sector organisations receiving funding:

Barnardo’s £29,044
Home Start Glasgow South £22,421
Aberlour £41,346
Amma Birth Companions £9,000
Home Start Glasgow North £6,791
CrossReach £17,998 plus an additional £25,000 to provide training to other organisations
Quarriers £6,051
Midlothian Sure Start £11,457
MindMosaic Counselling and Therapy £6,950
PND The Borders £13,000
Inspiring Scotland £34,000

The Scottish Government invited applications for third sector organisations who provide perinatal and infant mental health support services to apply for funding, with the focus on sustaining their existing service.

The aim of the fund is to sustain current provision and develop a national approach to non-clinical interventions for women, partners and families – to meet the needs of those 11,000 women and families who might benefit for additional support.

The projects must fulfil the following outcomes:

  • Women/primary caregivers who use the service experience improved mental wellbeing.
  • Women/primary caregivers experience improved confidence and satisfaction with parenting and the parent/infant relationship.
  • Family/partner engagement in supporting women and developing the parent/infant relationship is improved.
  • Woman/primary caregivers have access to further help, information and support and are referred to NHS or other services as appropriate.

 

 

MSPs call for improved mental health provision in secure care and young offenders’ facilities

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee are calling for better mental health support for young people ordered into either secure care or a young offenders’ institution (YOI).

The Committee is calling for assessments of a young person’s needs to be made within the first days of their incarceration, and consistent, high-quality physical, educational and mental health support to be provided thereafter. Continue reading MSPs call for improved mental health provision in secure care and young offenders’ facilities

Kids ward at St John’s could take FIVE YEARS to fully reopen, say Tories

A children’s ward at a key central Scotland hospital could be FIVE YEARS away from reopening – despite SNP pledges that it would return to full service back in October. Continue reading Kids ward at St John’s could take FIVE YEARS to fully reopen, say Tories

A first for Scotland: Recovery on board a canal boat in Edinburgh

On Tuesday (19th November), Joe Fitzpatrick – Minister for Public Health, Sport and Well-being will cut the ribbon and formally launch Scotland’s first canal boat providing services for the recovery community.

The Sorted Project is an Edinburgh charity established in 2008.  In recent years they have been hiring a canal boat on the Union Canal to support men and women in recovery from substance dependency and associated mental health issues.  The success of this work inspired the National Lottery Fund to support the commission of a fully accessible purpose-built canal boat named Panacea.

The service provides a tranquil environment where training and volunteering opportunities are available.

Project Manager Karen Bradford said: “We decided to launch Panacea on this date as it would be a special way to say thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund and to everyone who buys a National Lottery ticket.  

“Activity in recovery is an essential part of being well.  Our work helps to build resilience through being part of a community, being part of a crew and building hope for the future.  Learning to drive and crew a 60ft boat is a powerful way to learn new transferable skills and build self-belief and confidence.

“Funding from the National Lottery Community Fund has enabled us to develop this unique project and we have included people in recovery in not only shaping our work, but also designing the boat.  It’s a tremendous achievement and we are all very proud indeed.”

Tuesday 19th November is a significant date which sees the launch of Panacea and the 25th Birthday of the National Lottery. 

The boat was designed and built by specialist boat builders, Crafted Boats in Stoke Prior near Bromsgrove.  It was transported by road to Sandpoint Marina in Dumbarton.  A Sorted Project crew of 9 including staff, board members, volunteers and participants sailed the boat all the way back to Ratho near Edinburgh.  The journey took 4 days and was a wonderful experience and a great achievement for everyone involved.

Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said: “It is a pleasure to launch the Panacea which offers such a unique and enterprising way to help people recover from their substance use and improve their mental health.

“Our drugs strategy challenges services to better meet the complex health and social needs of those who are most at risk and deliver services that address their specific circumstances.

“The Sorted Project is delivering a service which offers individuals the chance to develop their confidence and skills in a tranquil and relaxing setting where they can focus on their recovery.”

The Sorted Project is now delivering this unique service and aims to reach recovery communities along the Union Canal.

The launch event starts at midday with the ribbon cutting ceremony taking place at 3pm.

www.facebook.com/sortedproject

Scotland’s only cancer research charity marks 40th anniversary with First Step campaign

 

  • World’s leading cancer researchers meet in Edinburgh on 14 November to allocate a further £4 million funding
  • First Step campaign launching to increase public awareness and drive funding
  • Charity identifies urgent need to close the funding gap to find the cures for cancer

Worldwide Cancer Research, Scotland’s only cancer research charity, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month. Since being founded in 1979 cancer survival rates have doubled, and the charity has funded 1,870 projects across the world, worth over £191 million.

To mark this milestone the charity is launching a bold new look and campaign to raise awareness of the vital research it funds and help drive donations.

The First Step campaign, launched yesterday, will highlight the charity’s commitment to funding the very earliest research. A series of specially designed ‘first steps’ will appear across some of Edinburgh and Glasgow’s busiest streets and shopping centres, encouraging people to take their own first step in helping to find the cures for cancer by donating to the charity.

The campaign was launched by STV presenter and Worldwide Cancer Research ambassador Laura Boyd, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2009.

David Sole, Chair of the Board for Worldwide Cancer Research, who joined Laura Boyd to launch The First Step campaign, (above) said: “There is so much support for later stage cancer research that very often the first breakthroughs are forgotten or ignored. The First Step remains as critical as ever, and this is where Worldwide Cancer Research plays such a crucial role.”

This campaign coincides with the charity’s annual ‘Bold Ideas Gathering’, which sees the world’s top cancer researchers arrive in Edinburgh to discuss how to invest the money raised through fundraising and generous public donations. This year the charity has £4 million to spend on pioneering cancer research projects.

At the meeting, the group will go through the ideas put forward by scientists from all over the world to identify the projects that they believe will have the greatest impact on the lives of people with cancer.

With an average research project costing around £200,000, the panel will have to select around 20 from 130 projects. That means there will be 110 projects, and 110 possible cures, lost.

This year’s applications are from researchers based in 24 different countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Malaysia and Scotland, and cover topics ranging from how cells repair DNA to new immunotherapy techniques.

Dr Helen Rippon, Chief Executive of Worldwide Cancer Research, said: “When Worldwide Cancer Research was founded forty years ago by Dr Colin Thomson, it was with one clear goal: to conquer cancer within his lifetime.

“Tragically, he died from multiple myeloma. His legacy is our mission – to find and fund life-saving research around the world to end the suffering and death caused by cancer.

“Over those forty years Worldwide Cancer Research has funded close to 2,000 projects around the world, helping to discover and develop new life-saving treatments.

“The First Step campaign underlines our belief that providing funding for the brightest new ideas in cancer research is vital to finding treatments and cures for cancer.

“Our ‘Bold Ideas Gathering’ is the most important date in the charity’s calendar. It’s incredibly exciting to think that a research project we decide to fund at this meeting could be the key discovery that unlocks a new drug or treatment for cancer.

“The cancer researchers who take part in the meeting all give up their time to review applications. They do this because they believe wholeheartedly in ensuring that our supporters’ money is used in the most impactful way possible. They truly are heroes in and out of the lab.”

Worldwide Cancer Research is one of the few cancer charities in the UK, and the only one in Scotland, to fund research into all types of cancer. This is because while some cancers have seen vast improvements, others have seen little or no change.

Approximately 784 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in Scotland, and with only 1% of those diagnosed surviving ten years or more it has the lowest survival rate of the 29 most common cancers.

Adam Coulson, chose to fundraise for Worldwide Cancer Research after the death of his father to pancreatic cancer, and his mother to bowel cancer. He said “Cancer has a devastating effect on our lives. I think almost every single one of my family and friends has been affected in some way or another.

“Sadly, there are some cancers that are simply not understood as well as others, and more research is urgently needed in order to improve treatment outcomes and survival rates. Worldwide Cancer Research funds vital research into those in most urgent need.”

Dr John Maher, Clinical Senior Lecturer at King’s College London and Chair of the meeting said: “Worldwide Cancer Research is truly unique as the only UK-based charity that funds research into any type of cancer, anywhere in the world.

“Every year we see so many exciting ideas from some of the world’s most innovative researchers that it is often very difficult to decide which projects deserve funding. It can’t be stressed enough how important the supporters of Worldwide Cancer Research are to make this research possible.”

For more information about Worldwide Cancer Research, visit https://www.worldwidecancerresearch.org.

Ditch yer auld baffies at Big Slipper Event!

Older residents in Edinburgh are being encouraged to trade in their old slippers for a brand new pair, free of charge.

Big slipper event!

As part of a community initiative in Leith, a ‘Big Slipper’ social day is taking place this Monday (18 November) at Easter Road stadium. Continue reading Ditch yer auld baffies at Big Slipper Event!

Childline counsels rising number of children about sexual exploitation

 

  • Childline Annual Review 2018/19 released
  • 12 counselling sessions a day with children who’ve been groomed & forced into sexual activity
  • More than 200 contacts from children in Scotland about this issue in 2018/19
  • Charity calls for teacher training on improved personal and social education
  • Other major concerns include: mental health issues, family relationships & suicidal thoughts

Childline’s annual report has revealed the service carried out on average 12 counselling sessions every day in 2018/19 with children who have been sexually exploited. 

The NSPCC’s round-the-clock service delivered 4,500 counselling sessions – up 16 per cent from the previous year – to children and young people, the youngest aged nine, who were coerced or forced into sexual activity. More than 200 of these contacts were from children living in Scotland, which was a 28% increase from the previous year.

In more than a third of counselling sessions young people disclosed they were targeted online – usually through social media or video games – often by their peers or people known to them.

Most commonly children received help from Childline because they were forced to perform or watch sexual acts or had been persuaded into sending naked images or videos of themselves – some were threatened with the images being told they would be shared with friends and family.

In the total number of counselling sessions about sexual abuse (8,841) exploitation featured in more than half.

Young people told Childline their experience with sexual exploitation also included receiving affection or gifts in exchange for sexual activities.

To help address the problem the NSPCC is calling on the Scottish Government to provide proper training to teachers so they can deliver effective and relevant lessons about healthy relationships, consent and sex; and support young people to get help from a trusted adult.

One 15-year-old girl told a counsellor she was feeling suicidal after being sexually exploited by a gang of boys:

“I never thought I would ever be the sort of person who could be sexually exploited.  One day I met up with some boys and they made me feel worth something. It started off small, complimenting me, stroking my hair. One day one of them started kissing me so I pushed him away and said no, but he wouldn’t stop.

“I ended up having sex with him because I was scared about what would happen if I said no. This pattern continued between the gang. I didn’t see a problem with it until school found out and told me what was happening was a crime.”

The Childline Annual Review also shows the biggest jump – up a quarter – in the amount of 16-18 year olds receiving counselling for sexual exploitation.

An 18-year-old girl revealed to Childline:

“When I was younger I kept going online to talk to people mainly because I felt so alone.  Some older guys started chatting to me and I sent nude pictures and videos of myself to them. I got compliments and didn’t know how to say no.

“Most of them knew I was just 13 and some of them threatened to post the pictures online if I didn’t send more. I feel sick just thinking about it and feel so insecure about this all coming back to haunt me.”

Matt Forde, National Head of Service for NSPCC Scotland, said: “Sadly, we are hearing from young people every day who are being manipulated or blackmailed into carrying out sexual acts. For many this impacts on their mental health and leaves them feeling isolated from the people closest to them. Some turn to self-harm, alcohol or substance misuse as ways of coping with their experiences.

“Everyone must be prepared to confront this problem, from government right through to schools, parents, professionals, and us at Childline. Earlier this year, the Scottish Government made 16 recommendations after reviewing personal and social education in its schools.

“It needs to now ensure that when these recommendations are implemented, teachers are confident to deliver the improved messages. Childline needs to recruit more volunteers to make sure they can be there for every child who needs our help, at all times of day and night.”