Membership of Pillar

Criteria for Membership

• You are an adult (over 16 years old).
• You normally reside within Aberdeenshire South.
• You have experienced acute or chronic mental ill-health, causing personal distress and problems in everyday living.
• You have required support, assistance and guidance for mental health problems from other professional or appropriate agencies within the past 2 years.
• Social contact of the type that Pillar provides is likely to be beneficial to your mental health.
• You come to Pillar of your own free will.

What Needs Can Pillar Meet?

Pillar is primarily there to facilitate the kind of social contact which positively enhances mental health, both within Pillar meeting places and elsewhere in the Community. While it is not a treatment service, people who use Pillar will be able to access advice, information and support when they are in crisis or in distress. Members will be expected to make positive choices about groups or sessions they wish to use in conjunction with other community resources or facilities.

Moving on from Pillar

Membership of Pillar is not necessarily for life. Pillar is there to be used as a stepping-stone into ordinary activities and services. Annual reviews will identify people who are ready to move on, and such members will receive help to move on, both as individuals and in groups. (Pillar will make active links with other organisations, such as Community Education, to facilitate this process).

Moving on should be a positive choice and experience for Pillar members. The friendships that people form through Pillar can be maintained outside Pillar without any direct Pillar involvement.

Moving on is not a one-way process, ex-members may return to Pillar membership at a point where their needs are compatible with the service.