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Waverley Care is Scotland’s leading HIV and hepatitis C charity. Everything we do is guided by the experiences of the people we work with, from shaping the services we deliver to influencing national policy around sexual health and blood borne viruses.

Many people assume that art therapy is routinely offered to children in hospitals. The reality, however, is that such initiatives are only given to children with well-known diseases (such as cancer or heart disease) and those who suffer from less well-known but equally life-threatening illnesses often struggle alone. The demand for our services continues to grow as clinicians and parents/carers see for themselves the positive changes that art therapy can bring about. However, as with many support services, funding for art therapy has been cut from many NHS budgets. Therefore, there is a heavy reliance on charities such as us to fill the gap and support children and their families who really do benefit from these types of therapies. Founded in 2010, The Teapot Trust was set up to provide art therapy for children with life limiting chronic illnesses and, in particular, to provide support for children who suffer from complex rheumatological conditions such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), juvenile spondyloarthritis (JSpA) and systemic lupus erythematous (SLE). Lupus is more common in children than leukaemia, muscular dystrophy and MS yet there is very little funding or support for this type of life-long incapacitating condition. Through the use of art therapy, our goals for children and young people living with chronic pain or chronic illness are to: • Encourage the self-expression of thoughts and feelings related with chronic pain/illness • Facilitate their understanding of how chronic pain/illness affects their lives • Understand how situations may increase pain perception and/or stress • Learn effective techniques to promote self-management of chronic pain • Learn effective techniques to self-manage stress and anxiety related to chronic illness • Facilitate the process of acceptance for children struggling with a chronic condition We don’t just work with the child but with the whole family and others who are involved in the care and support framework. Chronic illness affects everyone, not just the child suffering from it.  In the last year, our professional art therapists provided 2652 hours of art therapy to 3520 children aged between 3-16 years, many of whom were able to access something that would otherwise not be available to them but which has clear and well-documented benefits.

No One Should Have No One at Christmas. Not at Christmas. Not Ever! Being loved and cared for is important to all of us, whatever our age. But it's especially true at Christmas - a time when the company and support of friends and family seems to mean even more and loneliness is felt more deeply. Imagine going for several days, or even weeks, and having only voices on television for company. And not just at Christmas... Over 100,000 older people across Scotland say that they feel lonely most or all of the time. At Age Scotland we're working as hard as we can all year round to help older people face the different challenges that growing older brings, and with your help we can work to make sure no one in later life need be alone or isolated.