A man who struggled with self harm and was admitted 70 times to A&E found critical support at an Edinburgh charity, but fears he would “go back to self harming” if the organisation closed due to potential funding cuts.
Jacob Moody was diagnosed with a personality disorder during a period between 2020 and 2023 where he grappled with mental health issues. The 28-year-old found himself in hospital nearly 100 times for stitches, overdoses, toxicology treatment, or intensive and high-dependency care.
His mental health improved drastically when he became involved with Edinburgh mental health charity CAPS in 2023. However, the organisation is facing massive funding cuts from the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board (EIJB), which announced its intention to make £2.2 million in cuts to social care charities.
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CAPS offers individual and collective advocacy, providing safe spaces to explore shared issues. The charity has been life changing for Jacob, who began using his lived experience with a personality disorder to educate nurses during their training – work that he found immensely validating and healing.
Jacob told Edinburgh Live: “About a month after my last intensive and about a dozen psychiatric hospital admissions, I joined CAPS and there have been no A&E admissions for self harm.”
Jacob fears CAPS will close due to funding cuts -Credit:Edinburgh Live
Prior to this, Jacob was repeatedly admitted to hospital over a three-year period. He said: “In June 2020, I had two intensive care admissions following suicide attempts, and then admission to renal HDU in 2022. [I also had] more A&E admissions in 2022 and another intensive care admission, the last one being in early 2023. During that time there was self harm. I ended up getting almost 1000 stitches at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.”
According to advocates at CAPS, they provide the only pathway for people diagnosed with personality disorders in Edinburgh and the Lothians. They worry that without their services, people with personality disorders will not have access the life-saving community that CAPS facilitates.
Jacob added there “isn’t really much” in terms of pathways for people diagnosed with personality disorders in the Edinburgh and Lothian region. The Corstorphine resident continued: “We are sort of the only resource so people get signposted towards us.”
“Meeting these people and having a group around me – it is a group of people who can tell you their experiences. You feel like [your] experiences aren’t that unusual.”
The EIJB aims to reduce its annual spend by £2.2 million which would slash critical funding to CAPS and other Edinburgh social care charities. Katharina Kasper, chair of the EIJB, said “we are now in a position where unfortunately these difficult decisions have to be made in order to protect the essential support we provide for some of Edinburgh’s most vulnerable people.”
Jacob added: “I think the council want to look at this from a monetary perspective, so I sort of want to approach it from a monetary perspective [as well]. I’ve been in intensive care way more than a normal person. I’ve been in A&E a ton of times. It saves NHS Lothian a huge amount of money [now that I have CAPS].
“I think it’s vital, because it makes people better.”
Jacob also shared his fears about how he imagined his future if CAPS were to close due to funding cuts.
He said: “I worry that I’d go back to self harming and taking overdoses. I think that I would probably try and take my life at some point in the future. [CAPS] has been a stabilising factor on me. If that was taken away, I might become unstable. It feels negative or manipulative even to say, if you stop this, I’ll self harm. But that sort of feels like the way it is.”
Katharina Kasper, Chair of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board said: “The IJB funds a range of non-statutory services with third sector providers, through block contracts and service level agreements. We are currently carrying out a review of this spend, with the aim of reducing annual spend by £2.2 million. This will enable us to focus scarce resources on the provision of core, statutory services which help keep the people who most need our help safe and well cared for, while allowing our partners to meet their legal duties.
“We have decided to take more time to consider this proposal until the IJB meets on August 26. This is to make sure we have taken the time to fully understand the services being provided, to assess the data and evidence on the impacts of any changes, and to consider the concerns raised by providers, service users and others.
“We recognise the concern this may cause, however we are now in a position where unfortunately these difficult decisions have to be made in order to protect the essential support we provide for some of Edinburgh’s most vulnerable people.”
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