What is your experience of lockdown?

If you have a mental health issue, CAPS Independent Advocacy would like to know about the impact of Covid-19 on you. We are particularly interested in hearing from people living in East Lothian or Midlothian but anyone living in the Lothians is welcome to respond.

It’s important that people can voice how the response by services to Covid-19 has affected them. We want to make sure that people with mental health issues don’t lose out at this time as health and social care services do their best to respond to this public health crisis.

We are particularly interested in your experience of accessing services and help – mental health services, health services generally and advice and information services since the start of the lockdown (23 March 2020)? We also would like to know about how public information on Covid-19 is affecting your decisions about asking for help and support. We’ve also included space for you to add anything else you would like to tell us.

We will use your answers to inform our own work, in particular the People’s Conference 2020, and to let the NHS, local authorities and the Scottish Government know how Covid-19 has affected people with mental health issues.

Please go to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/covid19CAPS or you can scan this QR code on your phone. 

Coronavirus – latest service updates

The Individual Advocacy staff for East Lothian and Midlothian are working from home and regularly checking telephone messages so please get in touch with us on 0131 273 5118 if you need advocacy support. While we are unable to attend appointments face to face at the moment, we can arrange a telephone appointment with you and will try to assist you remotely as much as possible.

If you have an upcoming PIP telephone assessment and would like advocacy, an advocacy worker can take part in the assessment call as well to help you get all the information across that you want to. Please get in touch with us in advance and we will make you a telephone appointment with one of our advocacy workers to discuss.

Collective advocacy

We are holding collective advocacy meetings online now.  You can get in touch with the collective advocacy workers directly on

• Ele – ele@capsadvocacy.org 07948 740 158 
• Fingal – fingal@capsadvocacy.org 07989 402 612
• Kirsten – kirsten@capsadvocacy.org 07910 983 030
• Niamh – niamh@capsadvocacy.org  
• Pam – pam@capsadvocacy.org 07989 402 634
• Victoria – victoria@capsadvocacy.org 07436 102 762 
• Anne – anne@capsadvocacy.org 07469 660 999 

All LEARN courses have been cancelled. You can get in touch with us by email learn@capsadvocacy.org 

Covid-10 and Eating Disorder Experiences

5 May 2020 The current Coronavirus situation is unprecedented. It is causing a huge change in society, creating uncertainty, anxiety, and disruption to normal lives and normal routines. For people with an eating disorder, this disruption may bring about extra challenges that may be difficult to deal with on top of everything else. Quite often, living with an eating disorder already brings fear and panic, and the current situation has the potential to intensify this. The CAPS Eating Disorder collective advocacy group, Seen But Not Heard, have put together some information on their experience of living in these extraordinary times, and addressed some concerns that people living with an eating disorder may have.

Download Covid-19 – Eating Disorder Experiences CAPS 2020

News & Events

CAPS Independent Advocacy is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Scottish Charity number: SC021772