'This charity has changed my life - when I was told about the cuts I just cried and cried'

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

"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."

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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."

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”.