The Edinburgh Practice launches a city-wide art competition in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland

Mental healthcare specialists, The Edinburgh Practice, has announced a city-wide art competition, entitled ‘Memory: Your Perspective’ in collaboration with its 2023 charity partner, Alzheimer Scotland, which will be officially unveiled at the opening of its new 6,500sq ft multi-purpose, custom built 26 room clinic in Waverley Square this summer.

The company, founded by Dr Fiona Wilson in 2017, has outgrown three sites in the city due to exponential growth over the last two years and is counting down to opening its new clinic which will include new specialist services for older adults including the provision of dementia assessments through the practice’s new Memory Clinic.

The competition, which has five categories; primary school pupils, secondary school pupils, adults aged 18-65, adults aged 65 plus, and people living with dementia, (or caring for someone with dementia) ties in with the range of new services for older adults and will also help raise awareness of the support offered by Alzheimer Scotland.

The theme for the competition is about encapsulating people’s interpretation of memory, which can range from a fond memory of quality time with grandparents or memorable past experiences of places, people and moments. Entries can be submitted in A0, A1, A2 or A3 format and be submitted digitally by emailing ella@edinburghpractice.com by 5pm on Friday 19th May 2023.

The winning artist in each category will receive a £100 voucher for the St James’ Centre, and their artwork will be displayed for one year in the new practice at Waverley Square.

Dr Fiona Wilson said: “Supporting the wider community is very important to us at The Edinburgh Practice and I am thrilled to announce that our 2023 charity partner is Alzheimer Scotland. 

“The charity is doing tremendous work in supporting people with dementia and carers, as well as creating awareness about brain health across the life span. 

“We hope that our ‘Memory: Your Perspective’ art competition will stimulate awareness and discussions among all age groups in the community as to how important brain health is to preserve our memory for as long as possible.

“We are very much looking forward to unveiling the winning artworks in each category at our launch event in the summer.”

Josh Munns, Stakeholder Engagement Leader at Alzheimer Scotland, commented: “We are delighted to be the charity partner for The Edinburgh Practice who are helping to raise crucial funds and vital awareness for Alzheimer Scotland.

“People living with dementia and those who love them continue to be disproportionately affected by the legacy of the pandemic and the effects of the cost-of-living crisis so it’s essential that we continue to be there to make sure no one faces dementia alone.

“Without the support of organisations like The Edinburgh Practice we wouldn’t be able to support the 90,000 people living dementia, their families and carers”.

The Edinburgh Practice unveils major expansion plans

 LAUNCH OF STATE-OF-THE-ART HEALTH CLINIC AT WAVERLEY SQUARE

The Edinburgh Practice, which specialises in providing expert mental healthcare, has unveiled major expansion plans to triple the size of their current premises into a purpose-built, 6,500 sq ft practice in Waverley Square, set to open in the summer, allowing them to expand their range of services, increase their client base and double the team from 50 to 100.

The New Town-based, award-winning company, which offers psychiatric assessment and treatment and a range of therapies including psychological, speech and language, educational and family therapy, began with one member of staff, Clinical Psychologist and founder, Dr Fiona Wilson, in 2017. Within three years the team increased to 32, resulting in the opening of two additional premises in the area.

Plans to combine all three sites into a single, purpose-built clinic to allow the company to expand its services and grow the team further have been in the pipeline for the last 18 months and now that building work has begun, the timeline to launch the new premises is on track for early summer. 

The state-of-the-art practice will feature 26 therapy rooms, a large meeting space for in-house and community events, and a dedicated staff area. It has been carefully designed to be a healing space which matches both clients’ therapeutic needs and staff wellbeing. 

Dr Wilson said: “We’re delighted to be taking this next step in our journey and finally be able to match up service demand and service provision in our own custom-built practice set to open in the summer.  As opposed to continuing to open more and more practices in the city, it made sense to us to bring everything together under one roof.

“Searching for help when struggling with your own or a loved one’s mental health difficulties is extremely hard, which is why our goal has always been to provide easy and fast access to high-quality, evidence-based treatment and therapy, in a safe, compassionate way.

“Our new custom-built practice, which is tripling the size of our current square footage, will allow us to be able to help even more people by expanding our existing wide range of services and launching new ones across all age groups, including an Early Years Service, Occupational Therapy Service and an Older Adults Service, where dementia assessments will be accessible through the practice’s new Memory Clinic.

“This expansion represents an exciting continuation of the development of The Edinburgh Practice, and we have a strong pipeline of new service development projects for 2023 and beyond.”

The Edinburgh Practice Awards include ASB Young Business of the Year Award 2018 and 2019 Finalist for Start Up Business of the Year Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards.

Website: www.edinburghpractice.com

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