Posts by Ciara Maguire

We have been following BBC Radio Scotland’s week of conversations around ‘Isolation and Loneliness’, and have been thinking about how being part of a minority group can sometimes mean you feel more isolated or lonely. For LGBT people, if you don’t live in a big city or don’t have access to safe, welcoming places, it can…

Alzheimer Scotland and Angus Health & Social Care Partnership graciously hosted the Dementia Fayre held at Brechin Community Campus yesterday, Tuesday 30th May, one of a series of Dementia Fayres being held around the Angus area as part of Dementia Awareness Week. We enjoyed having conversations with different people throughout the day, which highlighted the need for…

For the last couple of weeks our Flourishing Borders has been at Whim Hall care home where many of the residents are living with dementia. We had arranged for the wonderful Diane to do two taster belly dancing sessions with the residents after they told us they enjoyed music and dancing at the Happiness Habits…

Why we did this Outside the Box and other people in East Renfrewshire had been hearing older people describe feeling lonely and wanting to have more connections with people living nearby. A group of us got together to look at the scope for more ways for people to meet each other and find friendships and…

People are more likely to experience poor mental wellbeing as they get older, but older people are less likely to have access to information or community supports that can help them manage their mental wellbeing. For the past year our Flourishing Borders project funded by the Scottish Government Self-Management Fund through the Long Term Conditions…

This new idea is an extension of the Falkirk Food Buddies project, run by Outside the Box. Life Boost Cafe consists of drop in self-help sessions at the Archibald Russell Centre for people aged around 50-65. The self-help sessions are facilitated by a development worker and will address issues faced by the participants. Each session…

As part of our new Peer Support for Parents project, we’re looking back at some of our previous work on Mums Supporting Mums, a project where we worked with mums in rural areas. One of the resources we produced was ‘Our Working Lives’, a booklet for mums who are thinking about going back to work…

We’ve been meeting with a group of parents from East Kilbride who meet up every week to talk, share experiences and provide support to one another. We talked about peer support, what it is how it can be used to encourage and support parents and people. Here are some of the main points the group discussed…

As part of our Parents Supporting Parents project, we have been having conversations with a group of lone parents from East Kilbride.  We talked about the things that make a good life for parents and families. We also talked about peer support and the ways it works to encourage and support people to lead good lives.…