Who We Are
People Direct CIC are a not-for-profit organisation that are passionate about creating regular opportunities for people living with physical, mental, or cognitive health conditions, to come together in a relaxed and informal environment, to share experiences, and to drive forward positive changes in their local communities.
Corinne is Founder and Director of People Direct CIC. Corinne joins People Direct CIC as an experienced Social Researcher. She is passionate about supporting people to make a difference to their own lives and the lives of others in their community. Corinne is experienced at facilitating community members to conduct research into issues of quality of life. She also has experience of community development, having made a significant contribution to the creation of Scotland’s first dementia friendly park.
Donna joins People Direct CIC as Director. With 20 years of experience in the Administrative Sector, Donna brings a range of scheduling and organisational skills. Having held positions across varied fields, including Legal, Accounting, IT and Fitness, she is able to tailor her skills to meet the needs of the company. Working previously in a forward facing role she has good people skills and enjoys working with people. Donna is passionate about making positive changes to local communities and helping communities, to help themselves.
What we will do
Our aim is to help people, help themselves and to drive forward positive change in their communities.
To ensure that the changes taken forward are the most welcomed and most needed, we will provide the necessary training and support to help people living with health conditions to conduct consultations. Any profits generated from the activities of People Direct CIC will be reinvested to help us to support further opportunities for people with health conditions to come together and share their experiences.
Whilst we hope that in the longer term, we will be able to sustain most of our activities through our own enterprise and through grants, we are running this campaign to assist us in our first project.
What we hope to use the funds for?
We are looking to raise funding to support the development and running of 2 groups (one in Fife and one in Forth Valley) for people living with chronic pain. We will provide each group with the support to create a specific resource that might help others living with chronic pain. The first resource will be a peer-to-peer resource for people being told for the first time that they have to learn to live with chronic pain.
Why is this important?
Have you ever suffered an injury? Been so tired with the struggle of getting through the day whilst your getting better? Can you imagine a life where the pain will never get better and over time things might get worse? A life with no reprieve from an invisible pain that’s there when your awake and awakes you when you sleep. A pain so intense you can’t focus on anything and it takes all your effort just to survive day-to-day life. The exhaustion of living leaves you feeling frustrated and attacks the confidence you once had in your abilities. You have no energy left for socialising or leisure and before you know it you have lost contact with so many people.
This is the reality of living in chronic pain. Between 1 January and 31 March 2019, there were 5249 new patients referred to chronic pain clinics in Scotland, with a similar number being referred in the previous quarter (ISD Scotland 2019). Whilst pain clinics can help with management of pain symptoms there are limited options available in Scotland to support people through the consequences of living with pain.
The funding raised here will help People Direct CIC to address the challenge of the consequences of a life of pain. In creating 2 groups, we will provide people living with chronic pain an opportunity to meet and share their experiences. With a focused task to complete, we will provide opportunities for people living with chronic pain to achieve and build confidence in their abilities.
If you have experienced or know someone who is living with chronic pain then you will know that this is an extremely worthwhile project that a lot of people can benefit from. With your support we can enable these people to help each other and themselves.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.