Category: News

Sarah Geidesz, an Occupational Therapist for Children and Young People, spent some time at The Usual Place while still a student training to become a qualified Occupational Therapist. This placement with us inspired Sarah into writing this very insightful blogpost into enablement, and she has asked us to share it with you all: Let’s Enable […]

Vaccinations for young people with certain conditions   Children and young people aged 12-17 from key groups to be offered COVID-19 vaccine.   Young people with certain conditions are to be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in line with the latest advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), before the majority of schools […]

In the last months of 2020, students Kate and Katie joined The Usual Place team on a placement for their Occupational Therapy degree, spending seven weeks with our staff and young people. Following their very successful placement, the students made the decision to nominate us for two awards offered by the OT Society. They have […]

The Usual Place in Dumfries has recently received a £243,939.00 National Lottery Award from the National Lottery Community Fund. The Usual Place Team are very proud to be a recipient of this significant funding, alongside another 245 groups across Scotland. Every young person leaving school has the right to equal opportunities to train, learn and […]

The Usual Place would like to thank the Lord-Lieutenants for the beautiful card that they have recently sent us! We received a card from Lord-Lieutenants Aileen Brewis, Patsy Gilroy and Fiona Armstrong.  This was sent to local businesses in praise of community resilience, innovation, collaboration and selflessness during extraordinary and challenging times. Our hand-written message, […]

The turn of the decade in the 1990s brought with it a time for change, as the Disability Civil Rights Movement grew.  Increasingly, disabled people wanted a voice of their own when decisions were made over their lives and were becoming more confident in speaking about the discrimination they faced daily. The message was similar […]

Even during the lockdown, it was very important for our trainees to continue developing and learning their skills and training at home. All trainees were invited to attend weekly check-ins via Zoom, the video-calling app used by many businesses during this unprecedented age.  During these virtual meetings, trainees not only had the opportunity to communicate […]

One of our trainees, James, has created an album cover for the Utah-based ukelele band The Naked Waiters!  This cover will be used for digital copies of the album, which released on the 19th of August. James first met The Naked Waiters in 2018, while volunteering at the Ukelele Festival of Scotland, and once more […]

Despite changes in many areas, from our operating hours to the way customers must now enter the building, The Usual Place is once more able to open it’s doors to our customers. We would first like to thank our customers for their continued support throughout these unprecedented times.  We know that our opening has been […]

After spending 3 years at The Usual Place, training and honing her skills, Meg has gone on to become a successful business woman in her own right with her cafe, Megalicious. This cafe will serve bakes, treats and soups which are all entirely gluten free and, where possible, made with fair-trade and organic ingredients. Megalicious […]