Next Steps Towards Community Wellbeing Centre

Next Steps Towards Community Wellbeing Centre

People with lived experience have met for the first time to support and shape innovative proposals for the new Community Wellbeing Centre in Dundee.

Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action (DVVA) hosted the first meeting of the stakeholder group, made up of third sector partners and those with lived experience.

The group of over 40 people met to discuss the key functions that the Community Wellbeing Centre (CWC), the design of the interior of the CWC and the range of additional services that may be provided.

A local campaigner on mental health issues and member of the group has welcomed this latest step.

Dundee’s Community Wellbeing Centre will be “always open” and will provide an immediate, compassionate response to anyone who considers themselves to need mental health support.

The Community Wellbeing Centre will be able to make use of community-based accommodation with support for people needing more intensive support for a short period.

It was recently revealed the Hillcrest’s building on South Ward Road had been chosen as the location for the CWC, in an important step towards providing a coordinated response to people experiencing high levels of emotional distress.

In the meantime, a range of help will be available in the weeks following contact to connect people to the wide range of community supports available throughout Dundee.

The contract to deliver Distress Brief Interventions has been awarded to Penumbra, who are in the process of building a team.  This will allow an immediate, compassionate response to people at point of their greatest need followed by a time limited period of support to assist people to problem solve the issues they are facing and become anchored in community-based wellbeing support and resources.

Ruth Brown, Manager at DVVA said: “This first Stakeholder Meeting was the first of many aimed at influencing the design and operation of the Community Wellbeing Centre and associated supports.

“This is the opportunity many people have been waiting for.  A Community Wellbeing Centre for the people of Dundee, co-produced by the people of Dundee.  We have a lot of work to do to ensure everyone who wants to contribute is able to have their say.

“On-line meetings aren’t for everyone though, and DVVA welcome anyone with views and ideas getting in touch.”

Chair of the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership Integration Joint Board, Councillor Ken Lynn said: “We are committed to providing better services for people experiencing mental health distress and it’s fundamental that people with experience shape these plans.

“The Community Wellbeing Centre will be here to benefit people across the city and we need to get it right.

“We know that the best way to achieve that is to involve people in all aspects of planning and we are confident that the meetings hosted by DVVA will be well attended.

“The best ideas are often generated when motivated people come together and allow themselves to think big.  We know that people come to a project like this because they have had difficult and even tragic experiences in the past. Despite this they seem to have an amazing ability to stay positive and come ready to talk about change and how to make things better.

“We are working hard on this development and continue to come up with innovative and positive measures to tackle the city’s mental health challenges.”

Phil Welsh, member of the stakeholder group said: “We are pleased that we have got to this stage of forming a stakeholder’s group. This indicates the birth of a facility that the city has been crying out for, for some time.
“Of course there will be teething problems, we would not expect anything else, however, from small acorns grow mighty oaks. We get this centre up and running then we expand and build into the future, that’s my optimistic vision.”

Any wishing to participate in this stakeholder group should contact MHEngagement@dvva.scot.

Concerns over potential impact of Dundee library cuts

Concerns over potential impact of Dundee library cuts

Cutting Dundee’s library budget could have long-term consequences on literacy, social isolation and mental health.

The warning comes after Leisure and Culture Dundee (LACD), the arms-length organisation that runs the service, announced plans to decimate libraries’ budgets this week.

The organisation has to find £860,000 to balance its budget this year and aims to do this through a combination of cuts and price increases.

The cuts include reducing the resource budget of libraries – the money available for new books and periodicals – and cutting staff numbers through voluntary redundancy and early retirement.

 

The organisation, which also runs the McManus, Camperdown and Caird Park golf courses and the Olympia Swimming Pool, said it may not replace all departing staff in order to keep costs down.

Sean McNamara, head of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland, said cuts to library services can have serious long-term consequences.

He said: “We realise that council services are under severe financial pressure and difficult decisions need to be made.

“However, cuts to resources and staffing can impact on vital services that libraries provide for communities.

“Libraries and their skilled staff help improve literacy levels as well as tackling social isolation and supporting mental health and they also play a key role in the current digital strategy for Scotland by providing free access for people unable to get online at home.

“Any local authority considering cutting budgets must ensure they have fully assessed the long-term impact any cuts may have.

”Labour group leader Kevin Keenan said “slashing the culture budget” was the wrong thing to do when Dundee is trying to promote itself as one of Scotland’s leading cultural destinations.

He said: “Obviously, I am deeply disappointed to hear there is a potential load of job losses.

“When we are trying to attract people and tourists here with things like the V&A, slashing the culture budget does not seem like the thing to do.”

A report to Dundee City Council’s policy and resources committee this year revealed that Dundee has the highest percentage of citizens who are library users out of all of the Scottish authorities.

Nine of the 13 libraries showed an increase in visits in 2016-2017.

The Central Library is Scotland’s busiest.

Last year there were concerns cuts could lead to restricted opening times in some city libraries.

A spokesman for Leisure and Culture Dundee said there were currently no plans to reduce opening times.

He said: “There are no changes to opening hours at this time.”