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Welcome to the CAPS Independent Advocacy newsletter!
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The People's Conference 2025
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Human rights: in our hands! Attend the People’s Conference to understand and know your rights when it comes to mental health. Find out more about demystifying human rights, think about how rights can be applied through advocacy and how cuts to services can impact how our rights are realised. The People’s Conference is a space of solidarity for people with mental health issues to support each another to explore whatever they feel is important. This year’s conference is all about human rights because we know that as people with mental health issues we may be vulnerable to discrimination and marginalisation and as a result our rights may not be respected. We’re living in a time where marginalised people’s human rights are increasingly under attack so it’s more important than ever to have these conversations about our rights.
Lothian Voices, the group of people with mental health issues who organise the conference, invite others with mental health issues to come together as a community. Rhona Willder of the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance will be speaking. It’s also a relaxed social time with lunch included and discussions and activities and is free to attend! The conference will be on 24th September in Edinburgh. Find out more and register here.
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CAPS AGM to showcase work with veterans
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Every year the CAPS AGM is a lovely social time to catch up with Collective Advocacy participants, others from the third sector, CAPS members and staff. We like to bring you a presentation about something special from the year and this year will be no different as we highlight veterans Collective Advocacy. New staff members Stephanie and Steven joined us in April 2025. Stephanie has worked in Scotland’s prisons for many years and is gathering the experiences and thoughts of veterans in prison. She is finding that drugs and alcohol are an issue, especially when combined with mental health issues, with access to healthcare, especially drug treatment, being sporadic for those in custody. Meanwhile Steven, a veteran himself, has been travelling up and down Scotland speaking to the veterans community, recently facilitating a lively event where veterans explored what it’s like to be a veteran living in Scotland, navigating services and what’s missing from veterans’ services.
Due to all the veterans who have expressed their views, facilitated by Stephanie and Steven, this is a truly innovative example of how Independent Advocacy can help the voices of Scotland’s most marginalised citizens be heard. At the AGM you’ll hear more about this work and everything else we’ve been up to this year, and have a tasty lunch! The AGM is on Friday 14th November, at 1.15pm in Fisherrow Centre Musselburgh. If you’d like to attend please email catherine@capsadvocacy.org.
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Inclusivity and intersectionality in the workplace
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On 16th September the LGBTQIA+ Collective Advocacy group and Minority Ethnic group will be delivering a workshop to staff at mental health organisation Penumbra. The workshop will look at how different parts of our social identity interact and cause us to be more disadvantaged or privileged in the wider world. It will look at the idea of ‘minority stress’: how people from Minority Ethnic and LGBTQIA+ communities experience a lack of representation, and can face rejection, discrimination and exclusion in daily life and how this can lead to disproportionate poorer mental health. Participants will consider and discuss what can we do to make services safer and more accessible. If you work for an organisation that may want to invite the group to provide this free lived experience education for your workforce please get in touch with niamh@capsadvocacy.org.
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Frustrating the Recovery Narrative
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The Collective Advocacy group for people with experience of eating disorders is delighted to announce the publication of their research in the International Mad Studies Journal. Their study is based on an open discussion between five adults who have all experienced/continue to experience various forms of eating disorders. They argue that there is no single narrative on recovery and that there are a multiplicity of different experiences, particularly of anorexia nervosa, the psychiatric condition that leads to the most fatalities. They challenge the situation where the professional expertise of psychiatrists is given more importance than lived experience and leads to an hierarchical approach and single recovery narrative. Read it here.
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On Tuesday 26th August 2025 the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) voted to let contracts for three of our projects end on 30th November 2025. These contracts pay for: Arts as Advocacy work which includes the Out of Sight Out of Mind exhibition; Collective Advocacy for people who identify as LGBTQIA+; Collective Advocacy for people from Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
The EIJB voted on savings proposals recommended by Health and Social Care Partnership officials. Collective Advocacy participant, Lauren Stonebanks, and CAPS’ CEO, Jane Crawford, attended in person and made a deputation. There was a counter proposal which had the backing of two councillors and was asking for our projects to be considered as part of a recommissioning exercise rather than coming to an end on 30th November. Unfortunately the EIJB voted for the original proposal to let their funding for these projects end.
A group of Collective Advocacy participants, called the Response Group, worked incredibly hard to challenge the Health and Social Care Partnership’s cuts and CAPS would like to thank them and all group members, and organisations, who have written testimonials in support of these projects and contacted councillors and MSPs asking for their support. We also thank the councillors on the EIJB who voted in our favour for their support.
You can read all the testimonials written in support of CAPS here.
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People’s Postcode Trust award rescues defunded Collective Advocacy projects
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We’re now delighted to share the good news that thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery the Out of Sight Out of Mind exhibition will go ahead as planned this year. It has been running for 13 years on the principle of lifting up marginalised voices in Edinburgh and is now Scotland’s largest mental health art exhibition. This year will be the biggest yet with more than 400 people with mental health issues showing artworks, and as usual it expects to draw 2000+ visitors this October.
In addition, the award will mean that Collective Advocacy work with the Minority Ethnic community and with people who identify as LGBTQIA+ will continue until 31st March 2026. People from marginalised communities face extra challenges with their mental health due to discrimination. Collective Advocacy provides the means for people to improve their own mental health. But it also helps others by educating mental health staff, policy makers and the wider community on the needs of marginalised communities.
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CAPS at Recovery Festival in Dunbar
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CAPS will be represented at the Ridge in Dunbar’s annual recovery festival. This is an opportunity to raise awareness of our service for people who need help to have their voices heard because of drugs or alcohol use. If you use drugs or alcohol it may sometimes feel difficult to get your voice heard. It might seem that drug and alcohol services don’t listen enough to the views of the people who use them. CAPS’ Collective Advocacy service seeks to help people express their views and needs. It is available in East Lothian to people who use drugs or alcohol to come together to find community and improve their own and others’ lives. The Ridge’s recovery festival runs from Friday 19th September, to Monday, 22nd September, 2025 in various venues across Dunbar, Haddington & surrounding villages. It’s free and open to everyone!
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Dates announced! Out of Sight Out of Mind 2025 exhibition
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The 13th Out of Sight Out of Mind will show artworks made by 400 people who have experience of mental health issues, starting this October at Summerhall. Artworks will be in many media, explore a wide variety of topics; some exhibitors will reflect this year’s theme ‘comfort & disturb’. As the biggest mental health art exhibition in Scotland, it will again join Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival programme. CAPS Independent Advocacy is pleased to be facilitating this important and powerful platform. The OOSOOM Planning Group, who all have experience of mental health issues, direct and deliver the project year-round. The coming month will see the result of their efforts, and the work of exhibitors, volunteers, partners, and many vital projects in our community. We all look forward to welcoming the exhibition visitors who bring celebration, support, and even more meaning. Launch: Tuesday 21 October, 6-8pm (booking required, link to follow) Open: Wednesday to Sunday, 22 October to 9 November, 11am - 6pm
More information:
Website: www.outofsightoutofmind.scot
Email: exhibition@capsadvocacy.orgPam, Arts as Advocacy Manager, CAPS
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Why not help our work by becoming a CAPS member?
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The more members we have, the stronger the voice of people with mental health issues will be. We’re reaching out to all readers of this newsletter to ask if you would be able to help us by becoming a member of CAPS. Joining costs nothing and it only takes a minute to sign up. Any individual living in Scotland aged 16 or over who is in agreement with the purposes of CAPS can apply to be a member. You can find out more about membership and our purposes here. There are no time commitments but you would help our work simply by joining, you could also play an important role voting for Management Committee members and any changes to the constitution at our AGM each year. Join now!
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Very best wishes from all at CAPS!
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CAPS Independent Advocacy is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation Scottish Charity number: SC021772 |
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