BY KIRSTY WATT
A new community outreach hub on Skye has been hailed a success after health, wellbeing and social care services united for the first time in Dunvegan last Thursday.
The monthly event, launched by the Skye and Lochalsh Council for Voluntary Organisations, will rotate around village halls to help boost access to advice and support services, covering everything from welfare and benefits to bereavement, the cost of living, finance, counselling, mental health and family.
Shortly after the hub opened last Thursday, Kal Elhajoui, the new hub coordinator, told the Free Press: “I think the hub is going really, really well because for something to be successful it has to exist. If there is anything I have learned [from being on Skye] it’s if something isn’t here, you do it yourself – that’s the great philosophy. You have got to put it on and then when people know there is one, they’ll start coming.
“Skye is not an easy place to get around geographically so the very fact that we are moving around adds accessibility and makes the chance for people to go much easier. We have all had that time when we’re on the phone waiting for an appointment – it becomes about the availability and not the need. This hub changes that. There is no queuing, no need to phone ahead you just come in.
At the hub, representatives from charity organisations – such as Connecting Carers, Befrienders Skye and Lochalsh, Crocus Highland, Mikeysline, Community Contacts, Rag Tag and Textile and Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association – are available to offer advice or time to chat in a private room. A dedicated counsellor from Counselling Care Skye and Lochalsh is also available offering free, 50-minute sessions.
Jo-Anne Ford, chief officer for SLCVO, told the Free Press: “We did some community engagement two years ago to look at health and social care in Skye and how we can improve it. One of the biggest things [which came out of it] was people saying they didn’t know about services, and if they didn’t know about the service they were assuming there was no service. We knew through our work there were an awful lot of services so we did a huge mapping exercise and created a community directory of all health and social groups delivering on the island. From that, came the question ‘how can we get these services to people?’ and from this the hubs came.
“The ultimate goal, in a couple of year’s time, is that we may need static hubs – a physical hub in north Skye and another in south Skye and the mainland. We want people to be supported. The idea is big and ambitious.”
Alongside the support services, SLCVO has joined up with community groups to provide transport, free food, child play sessions and activities, such as seated bowling and crafts, for people to enjoy at the hub.
The hub will return to Dunvegan village hall on 21st May and 25th June (10am to 4pm), before moving to Kyle village hall on 23rd July, 27th August and 24th September (10am to 4pm).
For information on transport to the hubs, to reserve a counselling session or if you are a third sector organisation who would like to get involved, contact SLCVO on [email protected] or 01478 612921.
The Community Outreach Hub initiative has received over £200,000 of funding which is supporting organisations to attend and has helped create two new jobs.
