Charities team up to improve disability services

An Inverness-based charity is leading a new initiative aimed at improving the lives of young people with disabilities and their families in the Highlands.

The Elsie Normington Foundation (ENF) will head up the Haven Consortium - bringing together five leading charities in the area in disability care and support.

They will be able to share resources in order to make services more accessible.

The other charities involved in the project are Special Needs Action Project (SNAP), Thriving Families, Connecting Carers and Encompass Caithness.

The ENF led the fundraising effort for the Haven Centre - a specialist multi-purpose facility for children and young people with multiple and complex needs - which opened in Smithton in June 2023.

Elsie Normington, who chairs the group, said the latest co-operation project would see the charities involved with the consortium work closely together.

They will aim to attract funding to affect "real change" in service provision for young people living with a disability and their families and carers across the Highlands.

Kirstin Mackay, who is service manager at the ENF, said the idea was to offer a more "joined-up" service where families could come and speak with all the charities under one roof.