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EVOC Redbook

17 September 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

EVOC Redbook In 2013 behind the scenes EVOC was working on building a new database for our staff. Built around the salesforce system, we created a customised database that would meet the needs of our staff whilst allowing us to resurrect something from the past. Many years ago, before the age of the internet, EVOC would create […]

How not to get sanctioned: a Recovery Essentials blog

22 August 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

How not to get sanctioned: a Recovery Essentials blogThere has been a lot of press about sanctions recently, and at Recovery Essentials we regularly see people who have been sanctioned. However, a lot of our clients don’t realise that not only can sanctions be challenged, but there are also steps that can be taken to avoid them in the first place such as […]

Keep Volunteering Voluntary – Director’s Blog

15 August 2014 By EVOC Communications Team 3 Comments

Keep Volunteering Voluntary – Director’s BlogCommunity Work Placements are now being implemented by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for many of their customers. Community Work Placements are mandatory and not volunteering. EVOC’s Board has considered our response to the mandatory element of these placements. We are firmly committed to the principles of volunteering – time offered by individuals […]

Compact 10 welcome new staff

13 August 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

Compact 10 welcome new staff As many of you will know, the Edinburgh Compact Partnership is celebrating its 10th birthday. Behind the decennial celebrations however lies a much more important matter at hand; working with the Third Sector to renew the Strategic Partnership, to make it relevant for the next ten years and beyond. This has led to the launch of ‘Compact […]

Communications – An Update from Tom

30 July 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

Communications – An Update from TomIn March this year, our previous Communications Officer moved on to new pastures, leaving me to run the department whilst we recruited a replacement. As you can imagine, it has been a very busy and challenging few months running the Communications Team myself, but it has given me a lot of time to reflect on […]

The Recovery Essentials Project Update

23 July 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

The Recovery Essentials Project UpdateThe Recovery Essentials Project is a partnership of several agencies working in the field of drug and alcohol addiction in Edinburgh. Together the project partners and EVOC identified a need for additional support for people recovering from substance misuse particularly in the context of the changes brought about by welfare reforms. A successful bid to […]

Human Rights at the heart of Local Mental Health Services

12 March 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

Human Rights at the heart of Local Mental Health ServicesJust how do Human Rights fit with Mental Health Services? In this blog we’ll discover what most of the rights applicable to an individual who may be using public or voluntary services are. First looking at the Scottish Human Rights Commission framework P.A.N.E.L. which sets out fundamental principles, followed by a summary of general human […]

How does it feel in an era of Perpetual Reform?

7 March 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

How does it feel in an era of Perpetual Reform?Two years since the UK Welfare Reform Act received Royal Assent. A lot has changed in that time. Two days, let alone two years, is a long time in politics.

Up close and Personal

6 March 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

Up close and PersonalThis blog is concerned with facilitating discussion at an upcoming EVOC ThinkSpace event to consider mental health services in the community, that is, with the content and structure of services rather than any design context. The Wayfinder Project has been initiated to re-design mental health services in light of the NHS Lothian programme to modernise […]

Value, worth and (yes) money

5 March 2014 By EVOC Communications Team Leave a Comment

Value, worth and (yes) moneyThe narrative surrounding yesterday’s news story reporting on the Family & Childcare Trust’s new research showing that annual childcare costs are higher for most families than mortgage costs terrify me. Because mothers ‘are forced,’ so the scary story goes, to ‘stay at home’ they ‘add nothing’ to the economy and might in fact – Horror […]