Patrons · Honorary Members Directors · Office Bearers |
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PATRONS Peter Stephen, Lord Provost of Aberdeen |
OFFICE BEARERS 2008-2009 President Vice President Edwin G Gillespie
Lesley Owens
External Auditors Bain Henry Reid |
HONORARY ADVISORY MEMBERS Anne Begg MP Professor Ian Reid DIRECTORS Alexander C Argo |
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Roy H Thomson It is with deep regret that we record the sudden passing of our dedicated President, Roy Thomson, on 29 November 2009. For many years Roy had been a very active Board Director before he was elected President. His training as Honours Graduate in Psychology provided him with an immense insight and depth of human understanding, all of which greatly contributed to his excellent service to our charity, Mental Health Aberdeen. Roy was a remarkably thoughtful man and wisely measured in all he said. He was always present for us as a colleague and adviser. Throughout his time with MHA, Roy was a true friend to our service users, members of staff and to our large team of volunteers. The Board of Directors equally benefited from his common sense and advice. Roy is greatly missed. |
Chairman's Report |
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Having been Chair of the Board of Mental Health Aberdeen since the beginning of the year, I have been overwhelmed by the concern, commitment and skills of the Staff and Volunteers who so freely give of their time and energy to the many and diverse activities of the Charity. The fact that this has perhaps been the most difficult and challenging year we have faced has made their commitment even more impressive and this has been greatly valued by our service users. The funding crisis in Aberdeen City Council has resulted in cuts to our grants and this has forced us to make major changes in service provision within the City. We understand that there will have to be further cuts in funding by Aberdeen City Council in the coming financial year, but we remain hopeful that vital mental health work, such as ours, will have some degree of protection from this, for a number of reasons. |
James Friend Chairman |
The Scottish Government has launched an Action Plan entitled "Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland" which is a remarkable and forward looking plan to improve the mental health of all the people in Scotland. This is based on the philosophy that whether people have a diagnosed mental illness or not, we can all be either "mentally flourishing" or "mentally languishing". The aim is to try to help all of us to flourish mentally by a greater understanding of what helps people at all stages of life, from infancy to old age, to become mentally flourishing, whether they have a diagnosed mental health problem or not. This programme is widely recognised internationally as being a pioneering and radical approach, and organisations such as Mental Health Aberdeen have a vital role to play in this. MHA can not only support those with mental health problems, and help them to flourish, but we can help to improve the mental health of all by promoting greater understanding of how a supportive and caring society can help to promote positive mental health and reduce stigma. It is clear however that local funding will continue to be very difficult and the Board is now committed to a major fundraising strategy. While recognising that mental health does not attract the same charitable support as issues like cancer, or children or even animals, mental health is vital to us all - "there is no health without mental health", as the World Health Organisation has said. We are profoundly grateful to all those individuals and organisations which have supported us in the last year, so we now intend to gain increasing support and understanding from the generous and concerned people from the North East of Scotland. |
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This year we have faced massive challenges. The difficult financial climate made it impossible to fulfil our aspiration to replace our residential care unit, which has now regretfully closed as planned and our staff worked extremely hard to help secure alternative care for the residents. All of the staff members could not be re-deployed and regrettable had to be made redundant. Significant and severe reductions in funding by Aberdeen City Council for our highly respected housing support service forced us to take the decision to withdraw from the provision of that service. Again, to their great credit, staff who were themselves facing redundancies worked tirelessly and successfully to ease the transition to an alternative service provider for the vulnerable people concerned. |
Astrid Whyte Chief Executive Jackie Edwards Depute Chief Executive |
Last year we were hopeful that the development of our social enterprise firm Green Tracks would lead to its development as a trading arm of MHA. Disappointingly, the financial climate again made it impossible to secure the level of investment required to build on the success of Green Tracks. We succeeded however in transferring Green Tracks to a sympathetic voluntary organisation with the resources required to take this innovative and valuable initiative forward, securing the future employment of its staff and trainees. We wish them every success for the future. A significant ongoing worry for us remains the long-term funding of our day service based at the Alford Centre in Aberdeen. In the face of a substantial reduction in funding that forced the loss of a full-time member of staff, further complicated by a 50% increase in rent, we are now actively working with Council staff and consulting with other stakeholders, not least our service users, to find an innovative way to continue to meet local people's needs, whilst ensuring best possible value for money for Aberdeen City Council who fund this vital service. In last year's Annual Report I stated that our approach was a positive one. I am proud that our directors, staff and volunteers have pulled together in the face of huge challenges to ensure that the people who rely on us have continued to be our first priority. In particular I would like to acknowledge the support I have received from my Central Office team, whose commitment and readiness to sacrifice their own time in order to get the job done has been exceptional. Whilst it would be easy to concentrate on the challenges we have faced, we must not lose sight of many of our successes and good news stories over the past year. Our counselling, advice and information services, funded by NHS Grampian and Aberdeenshire Council, have once again enabled thousands of people across the North East of Scotland to cope with significant levels of anxiety and stress and to address their difficulties. We are delighted that we have secured pilot funding for a dedicated youth counselling service for children and young people, the demand for which is clearly apparent. Our day services, support for carers and befriending scheme based in Aberdeenshire continue to provide invaluable support to local people and we have worked hard in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council staff to sustain and improve the quality of these services. We are grateful for their support. Looking to the future, our strengthened annual staff training programme enhances staff's existing skills, builds confidence and equips our staff to meet the challenges they face. This, coupled with our new governance arrangements and our continuing efforts to promote the inclusion of our service users throughout the organisation, leaves us in a stronger position to deal with future opportunities and challenges. References have been made to the vital funding we receive from several statutory bodies. As a voluntary organisation we also depend heavily on charitable donations from organisations, companies and individuals to enable us to meet local needs and to enhace the quality of our work. We are grateful to everyone who has generously supported us throughout the years. You have helped us make a real difference! |
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Please click to view the following sections of the Annual Report:
| Living with Mental Ill Health | Carers' Support | Day Services | Treasurer's Report |
| Counselling & Information | Policy & Campaigning | Social Account |