Capability Scotland Matters - Summer 2022
Capability Scotland's new Community Magazine - Issue 2 out now!
Capability Scotland's new Community Magazine - Issue 2 out now!
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COMMUNITY MAGAZINE<br />
SPRING <strong>2022</strong><br />
You asked for more on our toddlers...<br />
Meet Ollie<br />
Page 18<br />
Bertha Park News<br />
Page 10<br />
Service Profile: Edinburgh Children’s Services<br />
Page 12<br />
Inclusive Communication<br />
Page 22
CONTENTS<br />
4<br />
Vision, Mission & Values<br />
Making our mark.<br />
10<br />
Bertha Park<br />
New updates.<br />
17<br />
Fundraising<br />
How you help us.<br />
6<br />
We’re a social bunch at <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong> and we love nothing more than<br />
chatting with our great community on our<br />
social media channels. Pop on and say<br />
hello!<br />
Thank you to our<br />
friends at Keegan<br />
Funeral Directors in<br />
Paisley for donating 80<br />
Easter eggs to Wallace<br />
Court! Chocolate really<br />
does make the world go<br />
round.<br />
Wallace Court, Elderslie<br />
Inclusive Communication<br />
22Meet our team.<br />
12<br />
18<br />
LET’S TALK<br />
We’d love to hear what you<br />
think about our magazine or<br />
anything else you’d like to<br />
share. You can email us on<br />
hello@capability.scot<br />
Welcome<br />
Hello everyone. It’s a great joy to welcome<br />
you to our Spring <strong>2022</strong> and second<br />
issue of <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> <strong>Matters</strong>.<br />
Our magazine is designed to share stories and<br />
news about our charity with you, our fantastic<br />
supporters, donors, friends, and family.<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> started <strong>2022</strong> with a light at<br />
the end of the tunnel from the past two years and,<br />
as we move into a new spring, we’ve been truly<br />
excited to open all of our services again in<br />
a safe and secure way. We’ve got a big<br />
year ahead of us with three new potential<br />
services on the cards (more on those soon),<br />
a new business strategy being created,<br />
and of course, providing only the very<br />
best Caring Support for our people.<br />
, Chief Executive<br />
Brian Logan,<br />
Chief Executive<br />
You were all big fans of<br />
seeing our pools in use at<br />
our schools!<br />
Schools, Lanark & Kilbarchan<br />
We were delighted to<br />
be a finalist at this year’s<br />
Scottish First Aid awards!<br />
Anne, Gordon and Brian<br />
attended a glitzy awards<br />
ceremony.<br />
Corporate Services, Edinburgh<br />
Corseford School, Kilbarchan<br />
Everyone loved seeing Gary, our<br />
learner, on his work experience!<br />
Gary’s aims were to explore<br />
the job world, gaining crucial<br />
knowledge, skills and attributes<br />
that employers might look for in<br />
the future.<br />
2 3
Making Our Mark<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>’s New Vision, Mission & Values<br />
As <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> comes<br />
near the end of our current fiveyear<br />
business strategy, we’ve<br />
been thinking about what we stand for<br />
as a charity, how to make our mark.<br />
Our new strategic plan is still under<br />
development but we wanted to share<br />
with you, our community, our new<br />
vision, our new mission, and most<br />
importantly, the values that provide the<br />
foundation of our Caring Support.<br />
Our Vision<br />
We will strive to deliver the highest quality<br />
services, tailored to the individual needs of<br />
disabled people.<br />
We will work in partnership to create<br />
innovative solutions which enable our<br />
people to achieve their goals.<br />
We will put our customers and learners at<br />
the heart of everything we do and will<br />
make sure their voices are heard loud and<br />
clear.<br />
Our Mission<br />
An inclusive <strong>Scotland</strong> where everyone<br />
has the opportunity to have their voice<br />
heard, contribute to society and fulfil their<br />
potential.<br />
Our Values<br />
Kind<br />
We will show all of our people<br />
kindness, dignity and compassion<br />
through our actions and words.<br />
Inclusive<br />
We will treat people with respect,<br />
value the opinions of others<br />
and celebrate diversity.<br />
Open & Honest<br />
We will always strive to do<br />
the right thing and will build<br />
trust by being transparent.<br />
Aspirational<br />
We will enable one another to<br />
achieve our ambitions and will<br />
seek to always do better.<br />
Creative<br />
We will push boundaries,<br />
explore alternatives and seek<br />
new innovative solutions.<br />
For over 75 years, our people have<br />
been making their mark on the lives<br />
of disabled people. Whether that’s<br />
supporting people to live their best<br />
life, educating our young people,<br />
volunteering or providing behindthe-scenes<br />
support to keep our<br />
charity running smoothly, we want<br />
everyone to have a meaningful<br />
impact in everything they do.<br />
And the mark that each individual<br />
makes will be unique to them but all of<br />
us will be guided by our core values –<br />
values which should be baked in to our<br />
DNA. Wherever and whenever people<br />
come into contact with <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong>, those are the values, the<br />
behaviours, which should be on display.<br />
We want you, our CS Community, to tell<br />
us when you see our people exhibiting<br />
those values – it might be an act of<br />
kindness, it might be helping someone<br />
achieve their ambitions, it might be an<br />
open and honest conversation, it might<br />
be someone coming up with a brilliant<br />
creative idea or it might be making<br />
someone feel included. Let us know<br />
whenever you see someone making<br />
their mark and living our values.<br />
Brian Logan<br />
Chief Executive<br />
We’re looking for people who share our<br />
values to join our teams across <strong>Scotland</strong>.<br />
If you or anyone you know are looking for<br />
a change in career, or for the next step in<br />
your experience in social care, come along<br />
and work with <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>.<br />
Apply here:<br />
www.capability.scot/careers<br />
With the warmer weather coming in,<br />
you might want to be out and about!<br />
We’re looking for Collection Can<br />
Representatives to help pick up<br />
our cans in your local area.<br />
If you’d like to help out, even for a couple of<br />
hours a week, we’d love to hear from you:<br />
4 fundraising@capability.scot<br />
5
DUNDEE<br />
DELIVERS<br />
Dundee<br />
offers day<br />
opportunities,<br />
care at home, and<br />
housing support<br />
Kay making the Chinese dragon<br />
Recently, the <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> <strong>Matters</strong> team popped<br />
up to our Dundee Services for a visit. Gillian Dunlop,<br />
Service Manager in Dundee, invited us to experience a<br />
day in the life of their service and what they provide.<br />
And what a service<br />
it is! Dundee offers<br />
three different<br />
services to disabled people<br />
in Dundee & Angus.<br />
Day opportunities, where people<br />
attend a building-based service for<br />
meaningful activities; community<br />
living where we support people<br />
at home and accessing their<br />
local communities; and a<br />
housing support service,<br />
assisting two customers (Jamie and<br />
Jenny) in 24-hour accommodation.<br />
When we arrived at the City<br />
Quay day service, in central<br />
Dundee, we were greeted by Scott<br />
and Jennifer, Team Leaders.<br />
You know you’re in a <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong> building when you arrive -<br />
everything is completely accessible.<br />
Door entries are wide with access<br />
buttons at a reasonable height for<br />
everyone’s use, sinks and worktops<br />
are on electronic rails and move<br />
depending on the user’s height,<br />
bathrooms are accessible by default.<br />
Gillian, her team, and the customers<br />
have made the atmosphere in the<br />
centre a memorable one: the place<br />
is luminous and colourful, which<br />
was most welcome on a dreary<br />
looking Wednesday morning. After<br />
settling in, we were able to meet<br />
many of our customers, including<br />
Usmaan, who was curious about<br />
what we were doing and surprised<br />
we didn’t have a larger camera!<br />
We got to meet the lovely Kay, Laura,<br />
Phyllis, and Arthur, too. Numbers<br />
are a little reduced, like everywhere<br />
in <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> just now,<br />
but it’s still a warm and vibrant<br />
place. Customers were hard at work<br />
making their large, Chinese dragon<br />
model from paper, card, and other<br />
crafty materials. We were invited<br />
to be the recipient of this<br />
dragon - easily over seven<br />
feet in length - but we didn’t think it<br />
would fit in the little hatchback car!<br />
The customers are at the absolute<br />
centre of this piece of artwork, they’re<br />
involved in every creative decision.<br />
Getting involved in this project is<br />
more than just making a piece of<br />
art. The staff are taking time to talk<br />
about the Chinese Lunar New Year,<br />
its meaning and why it’s important;<br />
it’s obvious that integrating learning<br />
within each activity is an ongoing<br />
theme at the Dundee day service.<br />
Near lunchtime, we join Usmaan and<br />
Andy, our Community Living Assistant<br />
(CLA), in the kitchen. We’re making<br />
lentil soup. Usmaan is supported in<br />
making the soup from scratch and<br />
it’s an activity that he’s getting a lot<br />
of reward from - he regularly enjoys<br />
making lunch for people in the service.<br />
The support he’s been given isn’t<br />
intrusive, it’s a light touch - he’s the<br />
centre of the activity, and Andy is<br />
observing for safety and assistance,<br />
Usmaan is thrilled to be<br />
given the independence<br />
to complete this activity himself.<br />
With dragons and soup done, we<br />
met with Lewis, one of the younger<br />
customers who’s supported in the<br />
community. Lewis is in his early<br />
twenties, and he’s supported<br />
by Scott (CLA). The gents have<br />
come to the centre to collect us<br />
for a trip to the McManus Art<br />
Gallery. We take a walk up together<br />
and note the bond between Lewis<br />
and Scott, a great set of friends.<br />
“We just go with the flow, that’s<br />
how we roll”, Scott tells us, and<br />
Lewis heartedly agrees with a fistbump;<br />
they take the days as they<br />
come, whatever comes along they<br />
deal with together. “We’ll go to a<br />
group, have lunch together and then<br />
see where the afternoon takes us.”<br />
Throughout our walk, seeing the<br />
two gents speaking together and<br />
just talking about life is a simple<br />
yet impactful experience. It offers<br />
space for Lewis to talk about what’s<br />
going on, what’s in his head, and<br />
Scott’s encouragement<br />
and thoughts give Lewis<br />
Eyes of the dragon are on!<br />
Hot chilli - check!<br />
Usmaan making the soup.<br />
Phyllis and Rainha<br />
6 7<br />
Arthur hiding from the camera.
Laura sharing her music knowledge<br />
Sophie and Barisse<br />
Ewa and Kay<br />
Aaliyah and Nikki<br />
an important sounding board.<br />
This small bit of chat, in amongst<br />
everything else Scott does with Lewis,<br />
is fantastic for Lewis and his mental<br />
health; to have an almost brotherly<br />
figure in Scott to listen and respond.<br />
Lewis talks about college; he’s thinking<br />
of going back again. He used to go<br />
three times a week, but his anxiety<br />
and nerves got the better of him.<br />
However, his time and relationship<br />
with Scott have helped him to feel less<br />
anxious and have more confidence.<br />
Talking about the work with Scott<br />
and <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>, Lewis<br />
says “I used to be in my shell a<br />
lot but I’m not anymore.” Having<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> support him<br />
and his time with Scott has made<br />
a marked, positive difference.<br />
The gallery is one of their top places<br />
to visit as Lewis is a big fan of foxes,<br />
so they like to check on the fox models<br />
after enjoying a good lunch!<br />
When spending time in the<br />
community with our customers we<br />
like to get permission to film if we’re<br />
somewhere specific. At first, we<br />
were told we may have to approach<br />
the gallery’s head offices by email.<br />
However, we mentioned that we<br />
were from <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> and<br />
working with our Dundee Services...<br />
we got instant film rights with an “oh<br />
we know who <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong><br />
are really well” - delightful to hear.<br />
Later in the afternoon, we drive to<br />
Camperdown Country Park, and we<br />
meet with nine-year-old twins Barisse<br />
and Aaliyah for a play in the park<br />
after school with their CLA support<br />
staff, Sophie and Nicola. Dundee<br />
supports children as well as adults out<br />
in the community. For identical twins,<br />
they’re quite different in personality!<br />
Aaliyah is an explorer and Barisse<br />
is a warm snuggle bug. The twins<br />
are non-verbal but visibly they<br />
enjoy their experience in the park;<br />
Aaliyah is getting dizzy on the<br />
roundabout and going as high<br />
as she can on the swing, pushed<br />
by the team. Barisse likes the<br />
quieter life, watching her sister and<br />
taking a little walk around with<br />
her support staff, determined to<br />
stay warm, a wise choice under<br />
a sky that’s threatening rain!<br />
Supporting the children outside<br />
of school highlights an important<br />
dimension to the Dundee Service:<br />
it shows the breadth of care we<br />
can provide to people regardless<br />
of age. In many ways, the care and<br />
support for children are different<br />
from supporting adults but the staff<br />
here are knowledgeable on the<br />
adjustments they need to<br />
make to accommodate<br />
this and it’s all in a day’s<br />
work for the Dundee<br />
staff. Simply another<br />
string to their bow.<br />
We’re so glad<br />
we made the<br />
journey to<br />
Dundee<br />
and have had the opportunity<br />
to shine a spotlight on their<br />
work. Our Dundee Service was<br />
full of discoveries. Times have<br />
been tough for Dundee, as they<br />
have been for many over the<br />
past two years, but we doubt the<br />
atmosphere of joy and dedication<br />
to the work they do for our<br />
customers has wavered even once.<br />
Want to know more about Dundee?<br />
Drop Gillian an email:<br />
Gillian.Dunlop@capability.scot<br />
Lewis and Scott<br />
8 9
Finished mock studio<br />
We’re thrilled to announce our Board have<br />
approved the project entirely, and we’re about<br />
to start negotiations for land to build on!<br />
Donald during<br />
the mock studio<br />
construction<br />
We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on<br />
our Bertha Park project. Drop us an email at<br />
any time on hello@capability.scot and we’ll<br />
get your thoughts across to the team!<br />
Big plans!<br />
Ample storage included!<br />
A<br />
lot has happened since we first shared<br />
the exciting news of our plans to create<br />
new, exemplar and enabling services and<br />
accommodation at the Bertha Park development,<br />
putting us at the heart of the new community.<br />
Last year, we outlined the reasons behind the planned move to<br />
Bertha Park and the exciting ambition we have for the project.<br />
We are delighted that the response we got from customers,<br />
staff and families to our plans was positive. Our strategic<br />
partners – including Perth and Kinross Health & Social Care<br />
Partnership, Perth and Kinross Council and NHS Tayside – have<br />
all enthusiastically welcomed the project. Over recent months<br />
we have started negotiations to secure the proposed land we<br />
need for the development and introduced a new role to the<br />
project in the form of Co-Production Leader.<br />
The role of Co-Production Leader has been<br />
taken on by Jennifer Dalrymple, a well-known<br />
face throughout <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>, through<br />
her previous role at Upper Springland.<br />
Jennifer will work in ‘co-production’ with customers,<br />
staff and family members to ensure their ideas are<br />
embedded into the design proposals for Bertha Park.<br />
Jennifer, who has worked with <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong><br />
for the last ten years in various roles, said, “we<br />
want to put customers at the<br />
heart of everything we do<br />
and to ensure their voices<br />
and thoughts are heard.<br />
“Co-production is an inclusive<br />
approach to bring lived<br />
experiences into the decision<br />
making process. We will<br />
ensure customers, families,<br />
and staff members have the<br />
opportunity to share their<br />
thoughts with us at every<br />
step of the design process.”<br />
The first activity of coproduction<br />
has been to develop<br />
the replica - or ‘mock-up’ - of<br />
the proposed residential<br />
accommodation which has been<br />
purpose-built in the Theatre<br />
Room at Upper Springland.<br />
There have been some really<br />
useful comments recorded and<br />
feedback has been generally<br />
positive. However, people are<br />
keen to know more about<br />
how the studio flats could<br />
be arranged and what<br />
facilities could be included.<br />
Discussing layout options<br />
and agreeing on what works<br />
best is going to be the next<br />
phase of the co-production<br />
process; possibly the most<br />
exciting and certainly<br />
the most challenging.<br />
This is just the start of the<br />
co-production process and<br />
Jennifer is looking forward to<br />
working with customers, families<br />
and staff as the project evolves.<br />
Co-Production Leader,<br />
Jennifer Dalrymple<br />
Nice and spacious<br />
Lots of great comments!<br />
10 11
Edinburgh Children’s Services<br />
Each issue, we want<br />
to bring you a bit of<br />
information about our<br />
services in terms of their overall<br />
aims and what they do.<br />
Last issue we looked at our<br />
Dumfries & Galloway Services.<br />
This issue, we’re bringing it to the<br />
capital to look at two elements of<br />
our Edinburgh Children’s Services!<br />
YouthZone<br />
At the weekends, you will<br />
find our young people and<br />
staff team having lots of fun<br />
and getting up to mischief at<br />
YouthZone, our youth club for<br />
children with additional needs.<br />
Based at Riccarton, we spend<br />
time doing activities like arts<br />
and crafts, sports, games, and<br />
sensory exploration. Planning at<br />
YouthZone is led by our young<br />
attendees, so our experiences<br />
change every week. This means<br />
we get to try lots of new things,<br />
like baking healthy treats (sweet<br />
potato brownies, yum!).<br />
Our aims for YouthZone have<br />
always been steadfast and we<br />
believe we achieve them well. We<br />
aim to reduce social isolation,<br />
provide opportunities to access<br />
and build positive connections<br />
with the wider community, build<br />
and practise daily living skills<br />
and independence, engage<br />
in fun experiences in a safe<br />
and supportive way, learn new<br />
skills and expand interests.<br />
Recently, Isla, one of our young<br />
people, had attended a Zumba<br />
class and wanted to show off her<br />
new skills to everyone, so we’ve<br />
now got a Zumba session planned!<br />
We have a few creative pranksters<br />
that attend our sessions at<br />
YouthZone, who enjoy playing<br />
tricks, dressing up and hiding,<br />
waiting to make the staff jump!<br />
This year, we have been looking<br />
at getting out into the community<br />
more, going to local parks and<br />
swimming has been a favourite<br />
Building relationships with<br />
local organisations to run new<br />
activities at YouthZone is a goal<br />
for us this year – dance, sports,<br />
cooking, outdoor learning such<br />
as gardening and camping<br />
safely are some of the key<br />
opportunities we’re looking to<br />
provide for our young people.<br />
YouthZone has been expanding<br />
over recent months. We now offer<br />
sessions to a younger age group<br />
of 5 to 11-year-olds as well as<br />
continuing to deliver Saturday<br />
sessions to 12 to 18-yearolds.<br />
We have also increased<br />
the number of young people<br />
attending sessions from 10 to 12.<br />
This means we now support<br />
over 45 young people over four<br />
weekends. Our next exciting<br />
development for YouthZone is<br />
our new venue! We will soon be<br />
opening up a second venue in the<br />
Craigmillar area of Edinburgh<br />
with the hope that this will<br />
allow more young people to be<br />
supported from different areas<br />
of the city. This will be a great<br />
addition as the location is<br />
close to shops, libraries, parks<br />
and bus links. We hope that the<br />
young people will enjoy getting out<br />
into the community and continue<br />
learning independent skills.<br />
Holiday Support Hub<br />
Last year, <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong><br />
was asked to deliver a holiday<br />
support service to children and<br />
young people in need of some<br />
structure, respite and most of<br />
all - fun! This service is all about<br />
having a relaxed environment with<br />
lots of opportunities to gain new<br />
experiences and make positive<br />
memories. School holidays can<br />
be a cause for anxieties for<br />
families with disabled children<br />
so this service helps fill up some<br />
of that time with excitement and<br />
getting out of the house for fun.<br />
The aims and outcomes for this<br />
new service delivery are quite<br />
similar to YouthZone’s: we want<br />
to provide positive experiences<br />
for disabled young people during<br />
the holidays; provide a safe place<br />
to explore and play with support;<br />
provide respite for families;<br />
provide routine and structure<br />
to the day during holidays. And<br />
we’re meeting our aims well!<br />
We supported up to 10 children<br />
each day of the summer holidays,<br />
ages 5 to 18 years old, including<br />
some siblings. We have continued<br />
this through October, and<br />
February, moving to a new location<br />
at Kaimes School in South East<br />
Edinburgh. The new venue has<br />
been wonderful to run the Holiday<br />
Hub in as it is more suited to<br />
the needs of the young people<br />
we have attending. We have<br />
lots of open space for a variety<br />
of play experiences as well as<br />
access to a kitchen. There are<br />
local shops and play parks which<br />
have been fun to visit. The team<br />
is looking forward to be able to<br />
fully explore the nature walks in<br />
the warmer months too. There are<br />
some great bus links too, so we can<br />
be in town easily for days out.<br />
It has been lovely for our<br />
teams to meet and support<br />
all the new young people<br />
through lots of fun play-based<br />
activities. We have had lots of<br />
returning faces each holiday<br />
as well as new young people<br />
to get to know. Some of the<br />
families were so happy with<br />
the Holiday Support Hub<br />
that they have joined our<br />
YouthZone service too! We are<br />
looking forward to continuing<br />
to deliver this service during<br />
future school holidays!<br />
If you work with an<br />
Edinburgh (or nearby)<br />
based organisation who can<br />
introduce our young people<br />
to new activities, please<br />
get in touch if you’d like to<br />
explore working together:<br />
hello@capability.scot<br />
12 13
Anne’s Dash to Santa<br />
A Kiltwalk with a Twist<br />
Your fundraising gives happiness with every penny.<br />
Our community fundraisers (you!) help to keep the<br />
cogs of our charity turning day in, day out. That’s<br />
why we love sharing stories of your fantastic efforts.<br />
Thank you to everyone in the CS community who<br />
help us make a real difference to people’s lives.<br />
Anne McWilliam is a well-known face to <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong>. Not only is she our Learning and<br />
Development Manager, she is also a keen fundraiser<br />
and ambassador for the organisation. Never one to shy away<br />
from a challenge, Anne has taken on runs, cycles, and swims<br />
to raise money to support our services for several years.<br />
Last year, she donned her Santa hat and trusty running shoes to<br />
take on the 2021 Santa Dash, raising over £250.<br />
“For the past four years, even during lockdown, I’ve done the<br />
annual Santa Dash to raise funds for <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>.”<br />
Usually, I take on a 5km run but I have been known to dash a bit<br />
further! My wee dog always comes too, although he does not really<br />
like running, he is more interested in stopping to sniff at passing<br />
dogs, trees, and swans. This year as he tired a bit, I ran him back<br />
to the car, bit of a detour from the route, so an extra 1km was<br />
added to my total run and it was on my birthday too, what a way<br />
to celebrate!<br />
A big thanks to all who donated and cheered me on!”<br />
Restrictions imposed by Covid-19 meant<br />
many of our services were unable to<br />
operate normally. But one thing that<br />
didn’t stop was their fundraising efforts.<br />
In April 2021, customers and staff from Wallace<br />
Court in Johnstone took part in the Kiltwalk,<br />
but with a twist... rather than attend one of the<br />
organised events, they clocked up miles by doing<br />
laps around the grounds of Wallace Court.<br />
They raised an amazing £1,300 which was topped<br />
up 50% by The Hunter Foundation, taking<br />
their fundraising total to an impressive £1950!<br />
Follow in their footsteps and get involved<br />
with the Kiltwalk <strong>2022</strong>. You can sign up on<br />
our website www.capability.scot/events<br />
Join team <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> and don the tartan!<br />
Stanmore’s Cycle<br />
In preparation for their holiday to Blackpool in April,<br />
the young people at Stanmore House School held a<br />
sponsored cycle to raise money for their trip.<br />
The young people organised everything from start to finish; making<br />
posters to advertise the event, creating sponsor sheets, and sending<br />
them home to family. The learners asked the staff if they had an<br />
exercise bike that could be borrowed and even encouraged staff to<br />
take part and cycle some miles.<br />
On the day of the cycle, they organised healthy snacks and water as<br />
well as chose motivational music and took part in their own way. Some<br />
of the pupils who have bikes cycled around the grounds and others<br />
took part in wheelchair exercises.<br />
Kirsty Bason, one of our Support Workers who supported the young<br />
people with organising the event said “It was a great fun, lots of staff<br />
from around the school got involved and made it such a great success -<br />
we smashed our target of 266 miles which is the distance from Stanmore<br />
House to Blackpool and back! We totalled in at 340 miles by 3pm.<br />
We raised a total of £350 in this event alone - we’re all really pleased!<br />
This will go a long way to helping with our trip in April - Blackpool here we<br />
come!”<br />
Fancy your own<br />
cycle challenge?<br />
Turn to page 21!<br />
14 15
Harris at the<br />
wedding<br />
Chris & Angela<br />
say I DO!<br />
On a crisp Autumn Day in October<br />
surrounded by their friends<br />
and family, Chris and Angela<br />
Docherty (nee Douglas) said I DO!<br />
Breaking with tradition, Chris and Angela asked<br />
their guests not to send gifts and instead<br />
they set up a Just Giving Page where their<br />
loved ones could donate to Stanmore House<br />
School and Residential Service. Stanmore<br />
House School and Residential Service<br />
holds a special place in both their hearts<br />
as it is where their son and stepson Harris<br />
attends school and lives during the week.<br />
Harris is a bright and bubbly 13-year-old,<br />
who loves to be the centre of attention! He<br />
joined Stanmore four years ago and both<br />
Chris and Angela describe the school and<br />
residential service as a lifeline for their family.<br />
“Since joining Stanmore, Harris is like a different<br />
child, he is so much more responsive to others and<br />
generally a happier young man. It has been wonderful<br />
to see his development over recent years and we look<br />
forward to his weekends at home where we can see<br />
the wonderful progress he is making,” said Chris.<br />
Angela commented, “We chose to ask our guests to make<br />
donations to Stanmore in lieu of gifts as a way for us to<br />
give something back, the staff at Stanmore House School<br />
and Residential Service have had such a positive impact<br />
on both Harris’ and our life. As a family, we feel supported<br />
and know that Harris is happy and settled at school.<br />
“We would also like to say a big thank you to the<br />
staff who made it possible for Harris to attend<br />
our wedding, arranging accessible transport,<br />
allocating two Support Workers to help Harris get<br />
ready and participate fully throughout the day.<br />
It really was the icing on top of the cake!”<br />
The generosity of Chris and Angela’s friends and family<br />
resulted in a donation of £3,360 to Stanmore House School<br />
and Residential Service. Michelle Eckford, Head Teacher<br />
at Stanmore House School said, “On behalf of all the staff<br />
and young people at Stanmore, we would like to say a<br />
huge thank you to all those who donated and to Chris<br />
and Angela for choosing to support our young people.<br />
“The money raised will be used to upgrade our Magic<br />
Carpet, a key piece of assistive technology that is used<br />
for both educational and recreational activities.”<br />
The Impact of Your Fundraising<br />
Dundee goes to the Deer Centre<br />
Customers from our Dundee Service, along with their families,<br />
recently visited the Deer Centre in Fife for a family away<br />
day, all of which was made possible by fundraising.<br />
Everyone had a wonderful time learning about the animals and enjoyed the<br />
birds of prey display. The good old Scottish weather was also onside meaning<br />
everyone stayed dry and we were able to enjoy all the outdoor activities.<br />
Service Manager Gillian Dunlop commented on what a wonderful day it was,<br />
“After months of restrictions, it was lovely to see our customers and their<br />
families come together to enjoy a day out. Events such as group outings have<br />
been lacking from our programme over the past two years and it's thanks to<br />
fundraising by the public and colleagues in our service that we have been able<br />
to enjoy a wonderful day away.<br />
“We have lots of plans for future fundraising activity and hope that as<br />
restrictions continue to ease, we can organise future outdoor away days and<br />
also entertainment at our hub in Dundee.”<br />
Craigmillar Goes Digital<br />
Wallace Court’s Tiny Tablet<br />
Thanks to donations from our corporate partnership with Virgin<br />
Media we have purchased a variety of assistive and sensory<br />
technologies across our services. Customers at Wallace Court<br />
in Johnstone were one of the first to receive a delivery in March of<br />
a ‘Tiny Tablet’ – it is anything but tiny!<br />
Customers and staff have been learning to use the tablet, and its<br />
adjustable height and portrait/landscape position makes it accessible<br />
to everyone.<br />
So far, the tablet has been used to play YouTube videos, single and<br />
multiplayer games and music. There are lots of different apps<br />
available which means there is the opportunity for everyone to get<br />
involved.<br />
John has been enjoying the challenge of the word searches whilst<br />
Scott is loving making some music!<br />
The pandemic continues to have an unprecedented effect on the<br />
individuals we support, many of whom have been isolated from friends,<br />
family, and their wider support network for weeks and months at a time.<br />
Throughout, our staff have had to think differently about how we support<br />
people and how they can access resources for one-to-one support.<br />
Our day opportunities service at Craigmillar took many of their activities online<br />
and, thanks to donations from local trusts in Edinburgh, they were able to purchase<br />
iPads and assistive technologies that allowed staff to run online activities such as<br />
art, bingo, quizzes, yoga, taking part in meetings and interacting with friends and<br />
family. This has supported individuals to feel less isolated, to actively participate<br />
in activities and to continue to learn new skills.<br />
Due to ongoing restrictions, many of our day services are not yet at full capacity.<br />
Therefore we will continue offering online services and activities in the coming<br />
16 months; an invaluable resource, made possible by the generosity of our donors.<br />
17
OLLIE<br />
MCCULLOCH<br />
Happy, determined, and curious are<br />
just some words that have been<br />
used to describe Ollie McCulloch,<br />
the first toddler to join our Sunshine<br />
Toddler Group at Stanmore House School.<br />
Ollie has been attending the group<br />
with his mum, Becky, since Autumn<br />
2021 and has become a very popular<br />
member of the community at Stanmore.<br />
It came as a shock to Ollie’s family when<br />
he was born with additional needs. Becky<br />
said, “it took us some time to come to<br />
terms that life for Ollie and us was forever<br />
changed, however, we have adapted to<br />
a new normal and the team at Stanmore<br />
have been a great support.”<br />
When Ollie attends Sunshine<br />
Toddlers he takes part in<br />
a variety of activities<br />
including sensory play<br />
and storytime, as well<br />
as<br />
arts and crafts<br />
and outdoor learning projects.<br />
A favourite activity of Ollie’s is<br />
spending time in the hydrotherapy<br />
pool, and the team have recently<br />
sourced him a specialist float to<br />
aid his stability in the water.<br />
The activities organised for the<br />
toddlers follow the same themes<br />
as those within the school,<br />
ensuring that all who attend<br />
Stanmore, regardless of age are<br />
part of the community and enjoy<br />
the same experiences adapted to<br />
their stage of learning and ability.<br />
As well as taking part in activities<br />
that are designed and tailored<br />
to meet his needs, Becky and<br />
the rest of Ollie’s family also<br />
benefit from the support and<br />
advice of the allied health<br />
professionals at Stanmore, this<br />
includes Speech and Language<br />
Therapy, Physiotherapy and<br />
Occupational Therapy.<br />
“It has been invaluable for us to<br />
have input from Allied Health,<br />
the Speech and Language<br />
Eme-Elle, Ollie<br />
& Becky<br />
Therapists have introduced us to<br />
Makaton sign language, adopting<br />
new ways of communication<br />
has been empowering for the<br />
whole family. When Ollie first<br />
attended Sunshine Toddlers he<br />
was in a spica cast from his hips<br />
to his toes, this supported him<br />
to sit upright; however when the<br />
cast was removed he struggled<br />
to sit but the Occupational<br />
Therapists and Physiotherapists<br />
were on hand to offer support<br />
and advice and now Ollie<br />
confidently sits unaided.”<br />
The group also offers Becky the<br />
opportunity to enjoy a hot cup of<br />
tea and well-earned rest as staff<br />
are on hand to support Ollie, and<br />
he has started to make friends<br />
with some of the young people<br />
in the school. Every week<br />
Eme-Elle comes to visit Ollie, “it<br />
has been wonderful for Ollie to<br />
interact with some of the young<br />
people, giving him the opportunity<br />
to mix with his peers and the<br />
older children who he can see as<br />
role models as he grows up.”<br />
There are no other groups like<br />
Sunshine Toddlers in our area,<br />
so without Stanmore, Ollie would<br />
miss out on the opportunity to<br />
attend playgroups like other<br />
children his age. As a family,<br />
we feel so welcome by the<br />
staff and young people at<br />
Stanmore and are proud to be<br />
part of the community there.”<br />
18 19
Help Us Provide Support<br />
TO MORE CHILDREN LIKE OLLIE Top of the League:<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> has always sought to be a major ally in supporting<br />
disabled people to have full equality of opportunity and participation as<br />
citizens of <strong>Scotland</strong>.<br />
We believe that equality of opportunity should begin from birth and this is<br />
one of many reasons we created the Sunshine Toddlers Group at Stanmore<br />
House School; offering disabled babies, toddlers and young children like<br />
Ollie a safe space where they and their families can enjoy activities<br />
that every child should experience, just like children in mainstream<br />
settings.<br />
It is thanks to the generosity of our donors that we’ve been able to<br />
develop the Sunshine Toddlers Group and offer this to children and<br />
families free of charge.<br />
“The thought of attending Sunshine Toddlers for the first time was quite<br />
daunting. Due to Ollie’s disabilities we had never attended any baby<br />
or toddler groups as without any additional support Ollie is unable to<br />
participate in mainstream activities. Any nerves I had faded away the<br />
moment we arrived at Stanmore, the staff and young people were so welcoming,<br />
and we immediately felt part of the community. Every week, Ollie and I look<br />
forward to Sunshine Toddlers, not just for the activities and interaction but also<br />
for the additional support we can both access. Sunshine Toddlers and Stanmore<br />
has been a lifeline for our family, in a time filled with so much uncertainty they<br />
are a constant source of support, advice and kindness.”<br />
Becky, Ollie’s Mum<br />
To help us support more children like Ollie, please donate what you can so that<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> can ensure disabled children and young people throughout<br />
<strong>Scotland</strong> have the opportunity to see their ambitions realised and fulfil their<br />
potential. Please give generously.<br />
Thank you.<br />
You can return this donation form in the envelope provided or post to:<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>, 24 St John’s Road, Edinburgh, EH12 6NZ<br />
I would like to donate<br />
Want to donate online<br />
or by direct debit?<br />
capability.scot/donate<br />
Heriot’s Rugby Club<br />
&<br />
Our Charity Partners<br />
Last year, <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> was<br />
thrilled to be chosen as Heriot<br />
Rugby Clubs Charity Partner;<br />
we are now six months into the<br />
partnership and delighted to share<br />
that our activities and fundraising<br />
are going from strength to strength.<br />
To date, an amazing £4,000 has been raised<br />
from general donations, raffles and<br />
a charity dinner. Held at Heriots<br />
ground Goldenacre the evening was<br />
hosted by Brian Donald with guest<br />
speakers Rhona Hume and George<br />
McNeil in attendance. A great time was<br />
had by all and plans are already underway<br />
to host a similar event in January next year.<br />
Brian Logan, Chief Executive at <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong>, commented, “I am delighted that<br />
our partnership has started with such great<br />
success – we’re really enjoying working<br />
with the team at Heriot’s. The £4,000 raised<br />
so far will support additional activities<br />
across a number of our services over the<br />
Events that will<br />
make sport<br />
accessible.<br />
coming months. As we move ahead, I look<br />
forward to our staff and customers getting<br />
involved with Heriot’s next fundraising<br />
challenge, a virtual sponsored cycle in<br />
May, as well as a series of events that will<br />
bring rugby to our services and make sport<br />
accessible to the people we support.”<br />
On Sunday 15th May, led by club president<br />
Iain (Ducky) Duckworth, a group<br />
of Heriot's members, along with<br />
staff from <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>,<br />
will take on a 56-mile cycle<br />
from Glasgow to Edinburgh to<br />
raise funds for <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>.<br />
Finishing at Goldenacre they will be<br />
greeted by fellow club members, friends<br />
and family as Heriot's host a family fun<br />
day to celebrate their achievements.<br />
If you would like to get involved with the<br />
cycle, you can find out more by visiting:<br />
www.heriotsrugbyclub.co.uk/charitypartnership-cycle-fundraiser<br />
/<br />
• Spin or cycle, indoor or outdoor<br />
• 100 miles throughout May<br />
• Do it together with your team or alone<br />
• Fundraise for <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong><br />
I want to Gift Aid my donation to add 25p for each £1 I donate at no cost to me, and any donations<br />
I make in future or have made in the past 4 years to <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>. I am a UK taxpayer and<br />
understand if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the current tax year than the amount of<br />
Gift Aid claimed on all my donations it is my responsibility to pay any difference.<br />
05/<strong>2022</strong><br />
Sign up for your 100-mile challenge at:<br />
www.capability.scot/cycle
Inclusive<br />
Suzanne<br />
Naomi<br />
Communication<br />
Rufus and Steven interviewing new staff<br />
Gary telling Halloween jokes with his<br />
updated communication aid<br />
22<br />
Suzanne Green and Naomi Smith work with <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong> as our Inclusive Communication Officers. This<br />
post is a new addition to our charity but is filled with two<br />
expert ladies. An important role for our organisation, making<br />
a huge difference to our customers’ communication.<br />
Suzanne has been part of our team for 20 years, firstly as a Classroom<br />
Assistant at Corseford School, supporting children and young people<br />
within the school setting. She worked closely with our education and<br />
therapies staff, ensuring all educational and communication needs<br />
were being met. Through this work, she became passionate about<br />
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), and the impact<br />
this had on people with different communication<br />
needs. Suzanne became a Speech and Language<br />
Therapy Assistant in 2014, directly supporting<br />
children and young people with their communication<br />
over simply ensuring these needs were met.<br />
Naomi is a qualified Makaton Tutor. Makaton is a lot like<br />
sign language but it facilitates spoken language rather<br />
than replaces it fully. It helps convey spoken ideas with<br />
the aid of signing. Naomi’s Makaton journey began when<br />
she led baby signing classes and through her time as a baby<br />
swimming instructor. After completing her first Makaton<br />
workshop, she was hooked! Naomi joined <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong> as a Support Worker at our Perth day opportunities<br />
service, The Studio, where she led group activities for<br />
customers, and some of the residents at Upper Springland.<br />
Both moved into the Inclusive Communications role in<br />
August, and their job is to promote AAC across <strong>Capability</strong><br />
<strong>Scotland</strong>, providing training and support so staff can improve their<br />
communication skills and foster an inclusive environment. They have<br />
a multitude of tools at their disposal: objects of reference, picture<br />
exchange communication system (PECS), Makaton, symbol support,<br />
to more hi-tech communication aids using the synthetic voice.<br />
After surveying the charity to explore what areas were important to<br />
focus on first, Suzanne and Naomi have rolled out AAC Awareness<br />
training to all staff, giving a range of introductory knowledge on<br />
communication tools and how to be a great communication partner.<br />
One key development is training and developing on Boardmaker, a<br />
specialist education platform that provides communication through<br />
symbols. This fantastic tool allows the teams to create communication<br />
books, boards and visuals to help non-vocal people communicate in<br />
everything from choosing what to wear to doing their banking. This key<br />
development helps to increase choice for someone, important in supporting<br />
people to have choices to empower them, promote independence and<br />
inclusion, express their wants and needs and have their voices heard.<br />
The team has been doing a lot of work on<br />
safeguarding and making news from across<br />
the organisation accessible for everyone<br />
in <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>. As our work on<br />
our new Bertha Park project grows,<br />
Suzanne and Naomi are making sure<br />
everyone understands the project<br />
by spending time converting<br />
news to easy read, Makaton,<br />
and symbolised formats. They’ve<br />
also been pivotal in our creation<br />
of a new, customer-focussed<br />
newsletter, designed specifically<br />
for the people we support (though<br />
everyone is still welcome to<br />
enjoy this magazine!).<br />
We’ve witnessed a lot of great<br />
successes from Suzanne<br />
and Naomi’s work so far. One<br />
customer recently had his favourite<br />
music artists programmed into<br />
his communication aids, allowing<br />
him to independently play his music<br />
through his Amazon Echo - delightful!<br />
In the past few months, two customers have<br />
had new communication systems set up<br />
on their iPads, giving them a new voice.<br />
One of these customers, a gentleman left<br />
with no speech since having a stroke,<br />
was increasingly frustrated about trying<br />
to communicate. With this new system<br />
in place, he became quite emotional at<br />
being able to communicate with ease.<br />
What an impact this had. The other<br />
customer was particularly pleased to<br />
be able to use this system to grill some<br />
candidates during job interviews!<br />
Suzanne and Naomi sincerely<br />
believe this new role can make a huge<br />
and continuous difference to our service<br />
delivery, allowing us to engage and<br />
interact with our customers in new and<br />
better ways, and upskill our staff.<br />
Pamela using her new communication aid<br />
Fiona & Mark playing bingo<br />
made with Board maker<br />
Awareness Training in Perth<br />
Naomi using Makaton<br />
Wallace Court using Makaton
Coffee Stop<br />
Crossword<br />
1 2 3 4 5<br />
6 7<br />
8 9<br />
10 11<br />
12<br />
13 14<br />
15<br />
16 17<br />
18<br />
19 20<br />
21<br />
Sudoku<br />
6<br />
8 2<br />
3 8<br />
9 1 2 6 5 4 7<br />
6 7 9 2 4 5<br />
1 9<br />
1 8 7<br />
6 7 9 2 3 1 4<br />
9 7 3<br />
Across<br />
1 Kind of moustache (9)<br />
8 Expect (5)<br />
9 Make less heavy (7)<br />
10 Hot (in a frying pan?) (8)<br />
11 Charity (4)<br />
13 Bright — brilliant (6)<br />
14 Worthless (2-4)<br />
16 Head — bread (4)<br />
17 Stronghold (8)<br />
19 Portable anti-tank weapon (7)<br />
20 Carmen or Fidelio? (5)<br />
21 Mid-morning snack (9)<br />
Down<br />
1 Basil Fawlty, for example (8)<br />
2 Stockings made from sheer material (6)<br />
3 Play bricks (4)<br />
4 Device for accessing beer (6-6)<br />
5 Position close to the action? (8,4)<br />
6 Controversial attention-grabbing issue (5,7)<br />
7 Showy or exciting display (6-6)<br />
12 Highly complicated — full of twists and turns (8)<br />
15 Quagmire (6)<br />
18 0 (something one can feel) (4)<br />
LET’S TALK<br />
Answers: www.capability.scot/answersissue2<br />
<strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong> <strong>Matters</strong> is our magazine for the CS community. It<br />
is written by our Fundraising & Communications Team, with the help<br />
of our guest contributors and produced by <strong>Capability</strong> <strong>Scotland</strong>.<br />
Email us: hello@capability.scot<br />
Call us: 0131 337 9876<br />
Write to us: CS <strong>Matters</strong>, Vantage Point, 24 St John’s Road, Edinburgh, EH12 6NZ<br />
Limited by guarantee, registered in <strong>Scotland</strong>, number SC036524.<br />
Registered Scottish Charity, number SC011330<br />
We’d love to hear what you<br />
think about our magazine or<br />
anything else you’d like to<br />
share. You can email us on<br />
hello@capability.scot<br />
24