A WELLBEING pilot in Tranent has seen nearly 2,500 visits in its first year.

The Haven, developed by the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC), was set up to tackle Scotland’s mental health crisis.

The service, which opened in September last year at The Fraser Centre, is the first of its kind under the charity's 'No Time To Wait' strategy.

Over the past year, The Haven has been operational for three afternoons a week, attracting 2,412 visits.

Of these, 1,360 were children and young people, with the remaining 1,052 being their family members.

Roslyn Neely, ECHC's CEO, said: "We are incredibly proud of the success of The Haven over its first year.

"Poor mental health is one of the biggest challenges of this generation and to have been able to support so many young people and their families struggling with their mental health is really inspiring."

The Haven was created to support families with children struggling with mental health issues, aiming to prevent these problems from escalating to the point where professional intervention is needed.

The most common issues faced by attendees include anxiety and depression, school-related challenges, neurodiversity, self-harming, suicidal ideation and eating disorders.

A parent who has used The Haven said: "When we all felt at our lowest point, we contacted The Haven.

"Everyone there genuinely cares.

"Our son found it a safe space to open up and talk.

"The support The Haven provides us as parents is invaluable.

"We know the team is on our side and has helped us to realise what we are doing is right.

"I always look forward to our chats."

The Haven is open to any child or young person with a mental health concern, and any member of their family, including parents, carers, siblings and grandparents.

Due to its success, The Haven will next week move to new premises and will open five days a week.

READ MORE: The Haven charity relocating to Haddington from Tranent

With bigger facilities, longer opening hours, and a larger catchment area, The Haven will be able to support even more people across the Knox Academy postcode area, as well as the Ross High School area, from its new premises in Haddington.

Fiona O’Sullivan, director of children’s wellbeing at ECHC, said: "The Haven is unique as it supports the whole family and recognises that when a child or young person is suffering as a result of poor mental health, this can have a massive detrimental impact on the rest of the family.

"Our service exists to support the child, the parent, the grandparent, the auntie, the carer, whomever is closest to the child in need.

"We are thrilled that The Haven is able to expand its service for the remainder of the pilot.

"Part of the purpose of the pilot was to ascertain the scale of demand, and our data from the first 12 months has simply confirmed to us what we already knew, that children and young people are crying out for help."

The Haven will close its doors permanently in July next year, at which point ECHC is willing to hand over the model and findings from the pilot to any organisation willing to take The Haven model and roll it out more permanently.

Ms Neely said: "Our entire team is completely invested in The Haven and the thought of it closing at this point is almost unbearable, but it was always the intention this would be a two-year pilot, and as a charity we sadly can’t fund and resource this forever.

"The model has shown without any doubt that it works, and at the end of the pilot we hope to demonstrate that, at the very least, it has provided valuable support and intervention which has helped a child and their family to cope better with their situation; and at best, may have negated the need for CAMHS support later down the line.”