Comas helps people experiencing poverty, isolation and stigma from mental illness, addictions and other problems. We use a community development approach to working alongside people, helping them to connect to a community, develop skills, share experiences and become confident, contributing citizens, enjoying a better quality of life and more personal resilience to overcome challenges.
We successfully help people to improve their incomes, stabilise their housing, manage their recovery and become part of their community. Many people gain skills and qualifications through our learning and community volunteering opportunities, and become peer supporters, helping others by using their lived experience to understand and support, in ways that work
We have four main projects:
Serenity Café works with people recovering from addiction, with a social enterprise café at the heart of the community in which people in recovery help others. 45 people are community and café volunteers running the project, all using their personal experience of recovery to help others who are struggling with recovery. Over 1000 people are members of this project, the first of its kind in Scotland providing drug and alcohol free social and community space led by people in recovery for people in recovery.
20 More is a new project, working in the Dumbiedykes neighbourhood with the goal of making every household £20 a week better off. We have established a community shop offering goods in small units at wholesale prices and we are scoping a community-led electricity supply scheme to reduce the cost of electricity. These activities are backed by house to house work to improve benefits and income and find other practical ways of improving household finances.
Womazone is a project empowering women recovering from trauma using group work and a range of community activities designed for trauma recovery in a "head-hand-heart" model. many of the women involved have experienced abuse and violence, and their recovery from addiction is complex, requiring specific trauma-aware support.
Best Days is a project working with people with health and social care needs in the Craigmilllar area of Edinburgh, through community-led hubs which connect people who are isolated due to health or mobility problems.
