A WOMAN suffering from mental health problems for the past 40 years has spoken of her fears about plans to close a day centre she credits with saving her life.
Eileen Burns (59) has attended the Everton complex day centre in north Belfast twice a week since 2000.
Diagnosed with depression when she was 19, her mother left the family when she was a toddler and her father was knocked down and killed when she was a teenager. Her only sibling, John, was burnt to death when she was in her thirties.
After being treated at different services across the city, the grandmother-of-six was referred by a community psychiatric nurse to the Everton facility on the Crumlin Road.
"If it wasn’t for Everton and the staff I probably wouldn’t be here today. It took me five years to build up trust with the staff and they have become like family to me," she said.
"My fear is that its closure will mean I could end up back in hospital - I haven't stopped thinking about it.
"People talk about day centres institutionalising people - but that's not the case. We go out twice a week, everything from craft fairs to museums. It's my only social outlet. I do not go out at all - my home will end up being my institution if it goes. Many other people who go there feel the same way, we are devastated."
The proposed closure of the centre – which is 20 years old - has just gone out to public consultation as part of a change to how day services are delivered in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.
A centre at Whiterock in the west of the city is also under under threat, with a plan to centralise care in the east at Ravenhill Adults Centre.
The consultation document focuses on 'day opportunities' as opposed to 'day centres' and calls for a different approach as to how daycare is delivered, with the focus more on individual care.
Around 200 people attend the two facilities.
Barney McNeany, co-director of mental health in the Belfast Trust, said the "main driver" in the move was the "significant reduction" of referrals to the centres over the past four years, particularly among young women.
“People are not voting with their feet and referrals aren’t being made, it has dropped to below 50 per cent… a lot of service users do feel that going to day centre is institutional," he said.
"We want to promote the recovery of individuals, developing a wellness recovery plan through peer support. That might be about a person wanting to go to the gym or joining a club on their own as opposed to do activities with a group."
Mr McNeany said he was "very sorry" to hear that some people were "distressed" and the trust would strive to provide the full support the individuals required.
The director also insisted the proposals were not "cost-cutting" but admitted he did had to make "efficiencies" in his budget.
"This is about a change in a model of care, it is certainly not a cut. If anything it may cost us more in the short-term… it might save money in the long term.
"As a health service we are not running away from the fact that cost is a significant issue."
