Latest news with #CAPS
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Health
- Scotsman
This charity has changed my life - when I was told about the cuts I just cried and cried
Funding cuts which force the closure of mental health projects in Edinburgh will result in more self-harming and suicide attempts, members of one of the affected groups have warned. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Independent advocacy charity CAPS runs a number of projects in Edinburgh which are under threat from the cuts planned by the city's Integration Joint Board (IJB) which oversees health and social care in the Capital. Laren Stonebanks, 45, is involved with several of the CAPS projects, but particularly the Out of Sight Out of Mind art exhibition held at Summerhall every October, showing works by people with experience of mental health issues. Lauren Stonebanks says she "just cried and cried" when she was told of the cuts | TSPL Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "It's Scotland's largest mental health-based art exhibition," said Lauren. "It's one of the Summerhall staples and it's just buzzing when we're in there." There were over 300 exhibitors last year and over 1,900 people saw it. "People get so much from it. Visitors learn things about loved ones who might have a particular condition, not just from artwork made by their loved one but artwork by someone else who has that condition and they think 'I never thought about it that way'." Lauren started out as a medical student but her mental health deteriorated. "I went through many diagnoses - depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, then in 2011 they landed me with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and told me there was nothing else they could do. They gave me six weeks of psychotherapy and some leaflets and sent me on my way." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But one of the leaflets was about a two-day training course by CAPS on BPD and that began her involvement with the charity. "It's changed my life, it's given me so much confidence and self-esteem, I've made so many friends. When I was told about the cuts I just cried and cried. "I'm involved in about five different groups but if these cuts go ahead all of them would close - all that would just be gone, I'd become much more isolated. "It's hard to get me out of the house to go and do things because it's outside my comfort zone. The exhibition is the most social I am all year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "I used to have problems with self-harm - looking back at Facebook memories I can see how unwell I was in the past and you can also see as time goes on, as I get more involved in CAPS, those kinds of posts decrease." Jacob Moody says the cuts will mean an increase in self-harming and suicide attempts | TSPL Jacob Moody, 28, also believes CAPS has helped change his life. He grew up in Edinburgh and went to St Andrews University where he studied maths. "I moved back to Edinburgh in 2020 and during that time I was in intensive care in the Royal Infirmary five times and in the renal high dependency unit once and also had close to 1,000 stitches in A&E, mostly due to self-harm and overdoses. "But the last intensive care admission was a month before I joined CAPS. Since joining CAPS I've had no A&E admissions for self-harm, no intensive care admissions, no anything. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "CAPS has given me the opportunity to have my voice heard, the opportunity to meet people who have had similar experiences. "If this ended I feel I would slip back into that self-harming, overdosing habit that I was in. I worry it would just ruin me. "If it goes, I think it will lead to a lot of people throughout NHS Lothian getting worse. It's going to lead to self-harm and suicide attempts and it's going to cost NHS Lothian money." Jacob is involved in CAPS' group for people who have been diagnosed with personality disorders and he helps to train hospital workers on the issues for people with mental health problems. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "These workshops are the recommended learning tool by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for NHS Lothian. There's currently no healthcare for people with personality disorder in NHS Lothian. "Without our sort of training, they wouldn't have any training on these issues from people's lived experience, they would just have their text book training." He said some people claim people with personality disorders cannot be helped. But he said: "We can be helped. This group helped me into employment, it stopped me self-harming and overdosing and provided training for people - it's a positive for me and a positive for other people. "CAPS is listed in my care plan as one of the places I should attend regularly to get better and it's listed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for training for NHS Lothian. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "The IJB are cutting this while the NHS is still relying on it - it doesn't make sense." Charlotte Mitchell says she will be devastated if the cuts go ahead | TSPL Charlotte Mitchell, 80, is involved in several CAPs groups, including one on psychosis which runs workshops for students and others, and two others designed to ensure decision makers hear their views on mental health services. She said: "Our Lothian Voices group runs a conference every year. We did one on housing and mental health in 2023 and we took the results to the minister and he came and visited us. "And Edinburgh Voices is currently running a survey on drop-in services because a lot of drop-ins have closed and we feel very strongly about that." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But she said all the groups would stop if the cuts go ahead. "I would be devastated," she said. The total cuts proposed by the IJB add up to £29 million. A final decision was due to be made at its next meeting on June 17, but that has now been postponed until August 26 to 'ensure that recommendations are robust and evidence-based'.
Edinburgh Live
4 days ago
- Health
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh woman fears 'life-changing' charity will disappear from funding cuts
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A woman who dropped out of university amid a battle with mental illness says an Edinburgh charity at risk of critical funding cuts 'changed her life'. Lauren Stonebanks, 45, atteded four and a half years of medical school at the University of Edinburgh before dropping in 2002 out when her mental health "deteriorated". The Meadowbank resident went through a slew of diagnoses in following years - including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder - before an Edinburgh charity turned her life around. Lauren discovered CAPS in 2011 and has been an active member of the independent advocacy organisation for 14 years. However, the charity is looking down the barrel of extensive funding cuts from the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board (EIJB), which announced its intention to make £2.2 million in cuts to social care charities. CAPS offers individual and collective advocacy, providing safe spaces to explore shared issues. Lauren soon found a community of accepting people with similar experiences. According to advocates at CAPS, they provide the only pathway for people diagnosed with personality disorders in Edinburgh and the Lothians. They worry that without their services, people with personality disorders will not have access the life-saving community that CAPS facilitates. (Image: Edinburgh Live) After receiving a diagnosis for borderline personality disorder, Lauren said she was initially devastated. She later was re-diagnosed as having ADHD and autism, but says CAPS taught her to battle the stigma associated with her original diagnosis. She said: "I spent two weeks feeling absolutely dreadful. There's not much good said about people with borderline personality disorder. It's all bad. That's what I was being taught in the late 90s and early noughties. "[CAPS] changed my life because it showed positives. It just changed my entire perspective on it. I wasn't toxic, I wasn't a monster. I wasn't manipulative and evil. I was somebody in a lot of pain and trauma, and just as deserving of compassion." Through CAPS' commitment to collective advocacy, Lauren began using her lived experience with mental illness to educate social care professionals on how to work positively with people with personality disorders. She began delivering training for mental health nursing students at Napier University as well as occupational therapy students, art therapy students, clinical psychologists, and social workers. She also organises exhibitions and advocates for LGBTQ and minority ethnic people. Lauren added: "I can make a difference to the attitudes of all those people." Prior to CAPS, she reported being too shy to speak to people. She continued: "It made such a difference." CAPS services are facing the axe this year with potential funding cuts from the EIJB and millions of pounds of funding cuts to social care charities on the docket. When Lauren found out about the proposed cuts, she said: "I cried, and then I got angry. "[At CAPS] I've gained a family. My [biological] family was kind of emotionally abusive and not accepting of my sexuality or gender identity. They also didn't [understand] the mental health stuff and kind of blame blamed me." She spoke on the change in her confidence CAPS has afforded her in her 14 years of involvement: "I used to run away if I had to give presentations, I would flee and speak in front of people. It gave me the confidence to actually challenge the diagnosis." Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Katharina Kasper, Chair of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board said: "The IJB funds a range of non-statutory services with third sector providers, through block contracts and service level agreements. We are currently carrying out a review of this spend, with the aim of reducing annual spend by £2.2 million. This will enable us to focus scarce resources on the provision of core, statutory services which help keep the people who most need our help safe and well cared for, while allowing our partners to meet their legal duties. "We have decided to take more time to consider this proposal until the IJB meets on August 26. This is to make sure we have taken the time to fully understand the services being provided, to assess the data and evidence on the impacts of any changes, and to consider the concerns raised by providers, service users and others. "We recognise the concern this may cause, however we are now in a position where unfortunately these difficult decisions have to be made in order to protect the essential support we provide for some of Edinburgh's most vulnerable people."
CBC
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
London councillor's transparency concerns with homelessness plan rebuffed by committee
Social Sharing A London city councillor's push for clarity about the community stakeholders involved in London's response to homelessness was shot down by a council committee on Tuesday. In a letter to the community and protective services committee (CAPS), Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson expressed frustration about the lack of information about those involved in the whole of community system response to homelessness. The city has said more than 200 people, representing over 70 local organizations, contributed to the response. However, Stevenson's main issue was with a collaborative component of the plan responsible for guiding its implementation. In a quarterly update last month, city staff said three highly supportive housing projects, totalling 211 units, had been endorsed by members of the strategy and accountability table. Capital funding would come from the Fund for Change and other federal housing programs. "Council and the public do not know who the members of this strategy and accountability table are," Stevenson's letter to the committee reads. Stevenson is not a sitting member of CAPS. "We do not know how many members are in this committee, nor which of the 70 organizations that make up the (response) are represented. We do not know what the vote count was or if any concerns were expressed during that endorsement process." Stevenson sat in on Tuesday's meeting and voiced annoyance that she asked for the locations of the three projects but was rebuffed and told they would be announced by CMHA and Indwell. CMHA unveiled two sites this month, one on Hill Street and another on Huron Street. "I feel very uncomfortable receiving a report telling me lots of people know about and endorse things happening in our community that matter to neighbourhoods, and their city councillor is not afforded even a confidential briefing," she said. She suggested that staff bring a report back that would include, among others, an organizational chart for the overall homelessness response and a communication plan for the London Community Foundation (LCF), council, and the public. LCF is responsible for disbursing the Fund for Change. The letter also proposed potentially turning the table into a council advisory committee. Stevenson's letter was tabled as a motion by Ward 5 Coun. Jerry Pribil. A motion tabled by Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow recommended the letter be received but that no action be taken. After a lengthy discussion, Trosow's motion passed 3-2, with Pribil and Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAlister opposed. "It's just another indication that any kind of questioning gets shut down," Stevenson said after the meeting. "This is what I've seen from council, is they don't want to know." A list of organizations participating in the homelessness response isn't available online. A list also isn't available for the strategy and accountability table, which Mayor Josh Morgan and the city's budget chair, Elizabeth Peloza, both sit on. One staff report from 2024 describes the table as "made up of community members, local service providers, frontline staff, and representatives of other sectors, including health, justice, indigenous serving organizations, business and others such as the development community." Among its responsibilities is guiding the overall implementation of the whole of community system response. An organizational chart for the whole of community system response could be circulated with council, and are consistent with the strategy and accountability table, Kevin Dickens, deputy city manager for social and health development, told councillors. A review of the table is due June 5, so any list of participants would be outdated soon, he said. The table's votes aren't recorded, and are based around consensus building, which can lead to "robust and sometimes lengthy dialogue." "It means we receive decisions from time to time that we need to make in terms of … revisions on a plan … or when community partners present projects they'd like to proceed with, and they want to bring the community partners along," he said. Responding to Stevenson's frustration over a lack of communication on the housing projects, Dickens noted that the city doesn't own the properties, and no city funds have been given. Speaking virtually, Peloza said communication wasn't always up to the city. "These are independent organizations seeking funding through provincial and federal means. If the city's not the issuers of an RFP, we're not going to get the information until shortly before it's public," she said. Ferreira likened it to opening up a gym. "If I don't need to have a zoning change and I don't need money from the city to help me open that gym, then I can open the gym," he said. City staff said they would advocate for third-party organizations to share in advance wherever possible, but ultimately, the organizations would have to be willing. Later in the meeting, councillors voted 5-0 to authorize and approve $5.17 million in capital grants for CMHA's Hill Street and Huron Street projects from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. The matter goes for a vote before full council on June 3.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Majority of Americans have concerns about Trump's Qatar jet plan: Poll
A majority of voters say they have concerns about President Trump's acceptance of a Qatari jet plane, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll released on Monday. Sixty-two percent of voters polled said the president's acceptance of a $400 million dollar luxury Boeing 747 from the Qatari government 'raises ethical concerns about corruption,' while 35 percent said the gift is 'a win for the U.S.' The poll also showed the issue splitting somewhat along party lines, with 85 percent of Democrats saying it 'raises ethical concerns about corruption,' while only 15 percent of Democrats called the gift 'a win for the U.S.' Republicans were more split, with 40 percent saying it raises ethical concerns, while 60 percent said it was a win for the U.S. Among independents, 62 percent said it raises ethical concerns about corruption, and 38 percent said it was a win for the U.S. 'Voters are worried about gifts from the Qataris, suggesting Trump might think twice about the plane or what he would do with it after the presidency,' said Mark Penn, chairman of the Harris poll. The findings come after Trump confirmed earlier this month he was preparing to accept the Boeing 747-8 jumbo luxury jet from Qatar. The jet would officially be gifted to the Department of Defense before being handed over to the Trump presidential library at the end of his term. Democrats and even a number of Republican lawmakers have raised concerns over the president's acceptance of the gift. Many Republicans have argued that the jet will not actually be free, given it will need to go through the lengthy and expensive process of being transformed into Air Force One. Others have raised safety concerns about the jet. Trump has defended his acceptance of the jet and has labeled bipartisan criticism of the move as 'a radical-left story.' 'I just want to say, it was a radical-left story,' Trump told Fox News's Bret Baier in Abu Dhabi during a stop on his diplomatic trip to the Middle East this week. 'The people here, to show you how crazy it is, they would like me to pay a billion dollars.' 'I made a good deal,' he added. Trump also said that he is not a personal beneficiary of the jet, arguing that the jet is a gift to the U.S. government and that it will be old by the time it ends up in his presidential library. The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey was conducted from May 14 to May 15 among 1,903 registered voters. Respondents for this poll were recruited through opt-in, web-panel recruitment sampling. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points on a 95 percent confidence level. Updated: 3:53 p.m. ET Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Voter optimism ticks up on direction of country
Voter optimism on the direction of the country has ticked up in new polling, signaling attitudes may be bouncing back after President Trump's controversial tariff moves roiled global markets. A new Harvard CAPS/Harris survey found 42 percent of voters said the country is on the right track, up 3 points from last month and 16 points from November. The number was still underwater, though, as 49 percent said the country is headed in the wrong direction. Roughly a third, or 34 percent, of voters said their personal financial situation was improving, up 2 points from April. Another 39 percent said their situation was getting worse, down 6 points to the lowest share recorded by the pollster since October 2021. Fifty-one percent of voters categorized the economy as strong, a jump of five points from April. 'With the stock market recovery we … are seeing the voters diverge in their views from broader consumer surveys and are showing more optimism for the first time since the last Trump administration,' said Mark Penn, the co-director of the poll. Still, voters indicated concern about Trump's moves on tariffs and skepticism about his policies. Nearly 6 in 10 voters said Trump's tariff policies are harming the economy, and a plurality of 49 percent said the White House went too far with tariffs. Voters were split 50-50 on whether Trump's policies are making the U.S. economy stronger or weaker, as well as on whether his policies are leading to more or less investment in the country. A little over half said he's losing the battle against inflation. The president's overall approval remained relatively steady at 47 percent in the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris survey, compared to 48 percent in April, though it's down roughly 5 points since February. Less than a third of voters, or 31 percent, said Trump is doing better than expected in his second White House term — while 43 percent say he's doing worse and 29 percent say it's as expected. Back in February, roughly equal shares said Trump was doing either better or worse than expected, at 36 and 35 percent, respectively. The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey was conducted May 14-15 among 1,903 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll. The margin of error for the entire sample was plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
