Award-winning organic confectioner Booja-Booja is raising money for leading breast cancer charity Walk the Walk by producing limited edition boxes of their melt in the mouth Raspberry Chocolate Truffles. Continue reading Love walking, love life … love chocolate!
Funding for Macmillan advice services
Cancer patients and their families will receive help to apply for benefits and access debt and money saving advice through a £450,000 investment, it was announced yesterday.
Funding for the Macmillan Benefits Services is supporting cancer patients, their families and carers to access benefits, claim grants, free white goods and deal with debt.
Last year Macmillan’s financial advice services in Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness helped clients access £16.9 million of benefits and grant schemes, they would have otherwise missed out on.
Research from Macmillan has found 80 per cent of Scottish cancer patients are £420 worse off every month after they are diagnosed, through a mix of lost income and extra costs.
The £450,000 for Macmillan is part of the £2.5 million package of support for advice services confirmed in the 2016-17 draft budget.
Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess announced the funding on a visit to meet support workers at the project in the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow.
She said: “It is extremely stressful for people coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis to find themselves hundreds of pounds worse off and worried about paying their bills.
“Trying to navigate the benefits process while dealing with the physical and emotional problems cancer brings can be very difficult.
“Our investment in the Macmillan Benefits Service is removing some of the financial stress and uncertainty that comes when people are diagnosed, but are faced with increased heating, transport and healthcare costs.
“This funding is part of our £2.5 million package for advice services and sits alongside other measures like the Scottish Welfare Fund which helps vulnerable people in crisis and enables people to live independently.”
Macmillan’s Head of Services Janice Preston said: “Money worries are a real issue for many people who have been diagnosed with cancer. Some people will need to give up work and this can come at the same time as they face increased costs like travelling to hospital for treatment, or higher heating bills as many cancer patients feel the cold more.
“Services like this are vitally important in helping patients access the money they need and Scottish Government support and funding make these services possible.”
Child’s Sleep Workshop
Wednesday 17 February at 12.30pm
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre
Millions take action against the world’s deadliest disease
Cancer will kill more than eight million people worldwide this year, which is equivalent to the entire populations of Scotland and Wales combined. More than half of these will be people of working age. Continue reading World Cancer Day: Together We Can
Monday was National Breathing Space Day and it also marked the launch of Scotland’s Year of Listening.
The annual awareness day, which urges people in Scotland to take some ‘breathing space’ to look after their mental wellbeing, encourages us to take time to listen.
The Year of Listening is an initiative promoted by Breathing Space and Living Life mental health telephone services to highlight that listening, and being listened to, is good for your mental health.
Tony McLaren, Breathing Space National Coordinator, said: “We like to think we are good listeners but often find ourselves not truly listening. Talking through your problems is great but it can only help if you feel like you are being heard and perhaps understood.
“Relationships and friendships, where we feel listened to, can have a huge positive impact on our sense of wellbeing. This Year of Listening is a reminder for us all to try to be better listeners. Whether you are a friend, parent, sibling, colleague, spouse, neighbour or carer, take time to listen.”
Breathing Space is a free telephone service where advisors offer listening and advice to anyone feeling low, depressed or anxious. The service is open evenings and weekends on 0800 83 85 87.
The Year of Listening launch is being promoted by a number of national organisations and supported by Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health.
Mr Hepburn said: “Looking after our mental health and wellbeing is crucial. An important part of this is listening empathetically to friends, family or colleagues. Listening carefully and providing support in response can help people to feel a stronger sense of connection, helping to support confidence and wellbeing.
“The Breathing Space telephone advice line and the NHS Living Life service provide an invaluable service for people experiencing low mood, depression and anxiety. It can make such a difference to know that there’s someone there who is willing to listen and offer an empathetic ear. I’d like to thank the Breathing Space and NHS Living life teams for the tremendous work they do to support positive mental health and wellbeing.”
Crerar Hotels Trust has donated £3,000 to St Columba’s Hospice to fund a specialist bed at the charity’s inpatient unit in Edinburgh. The support was celebrated during a special cheque presentation from Sarah Firth, on behalf of Crerar Hotels Trust to St Columba’s Hospice. Continue reading Hotel donation will support specialist bed at local Hospice
Brave wee Kai Laidlaw has died. The local three year old fought leukaemia twice in his short life – he was first diagnosed in September 2013, when he was only eight months old. Continue reading Brave wee Kai loses fight for life
Dear all,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a good break.
Overcoming Language Barriers write up
I’m attaching the minutes and slides from our last forum meeting about overcoming language barriers. Thank you to everyone who took part. The next forum meeting will be in February. I’ll be in touch soon with the date.
Burns Night Community Ceilidh
I’m attaching a poster for the Burns Night Community Ceilidh at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Saturday 23rd January, 5-9pm. This is a really fun, family friendly and accessible evening for anyone living in the area. Tickets are £1 and need to be purchased in advance from the community centre. Please come along and invite others!
Facebook page
The Living in Harmony facebook page is at
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInHarmonyEdinburgh/
We want people to use this page to share information about what’s on so please do like it, post information on it and share it. Luke will be trying to post interesting and useful articles on the page too, so hopefully you’ll find it helpful.
Chat cafes
I’m attaching flyers for the Chat Café at PCHP and an LGBT chat café in the city, both starting this month.
Hannah Kitchen
Development Worker, Living in Harmony
chat cafe a5 formatted polish anna jan 2016
chat cafe a5 anna jan 2016 english
overcoming language barrier elite linguists
Scotland’s national healthcare improvement organisation is recruiting volunteers
Do you want to help to improve the quality of care in Scotland? If so, Scotland’s national healthcare improvement organisation would like to hear from you! Continue reading Get involved in improving healthcare
Chief medical officers update advice for lower-risk drinking
Men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week to reduce the risk of diseases such as cancer and liver disease, under new guidelines issued by the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers (CMOs). Continue reading 14 units: that’s your limit
