Tearful users and staff at a soon-to-be-axed mental health centre have urged cost-cutting council chiefs to come and see its “vital” work for themselves.
Comraich support service in Inverurie is one of several run by Mental Health Aberdeen (MHA) which will close in December.
Aberdeenshire Council is switching its focus to targeted one-to-one support for higher priority cases as it aims to reduce costs by a quarter.
MHA says the changes will cause “untold damage” and is not bidding for a new contract when its term ends on December 31.
All of its Aberdeenshire centres will close, with the loss of 26 jobs.
But Comraich project manager Aileen Thomson, who has worked at the facility since helping establish it 22 years ago, said it was not her own fate she was worried about.
She said: “I’m more concerned about the people who come here. It’s them who are going to suffer.
“They’ll get no peer support which a lot of people say is the most important.”
Only those classed as moderate to severe will get direct help under the new system – with others given advice on how to help themselves.
Service users have warned that losing the chance to chat with others who have shared similar experiences of mental illness will be “devastating”.
Sandy Cooper, 62, was first referred to Comraich when his wife died and credits it with getting him back on a relatively even keel.
But the retired offshore worker has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is finding the group invaluable.
“If people are going through the same thing, just by speaking with them you are helping them and helping yourself at the same time,” he said.
Being directed to other resources was useless “if there’s nobody there to push you” and those with one-to-one-help would be “sitting there waiting for them to come”.
Mr Cooper said: “That’s soul destroying, sitting in the house staring at the walls.”
Geni Kougawebb, 66, who has acute chronic depression, said she was in “a good place” but relied on groups to keep her there.
She said: “They keep us going. They are our social lives. It’s a bit like an extended family.
“A lot of people will go downhill. We will be a burden again on the NHS.”
The service users said a council consultation had been a sham – and that their glowing praise for the existing provision was ignored.
And they were united in their calls for those behind the new contract to visit.
“I would like the council to come to groups and see the importance of the work that is done,” Mrs Kougawebb said.