SearchThe National Lottery have given a grant for our support groups in Scotland!
- 5 August, 2025
- EDS UK news
We are delighted to announce that we have received a grant from The National Lottery to help develop our support groups in Scotland. We have received funding for two years to help us recruit, induct and support our volunteers in Scotland and grow the number of people we can support. We also have a small travel fund so we will be able to help those in more rural and remote areas to attend our support groups in person. This is an incredible boost for the EDS and HSD community as we will now be able to reach even more people living with EDS and HSD than before.
We’ve been successfully running support groups across Scotland for over 10 years and seen how life changing our support has been for the most vulnerable. Support groups are led, developed and shaped by our highly trained group of volunteers all of whom have completed our well-established induction programme and have lived experience of EDS or HSD.
In March 2025 we surveyed our Scottish members about the support they receive from EDS UK:
91% said our support groups were important.
80% said our closed Facebook groups were important.
88% said having locally trained support volunteers in place was important.
“It is the best support service available.”
Our support group events are often the only time people meet another person with EDS or HSD. When you have a misunderstood condition, being able to come together and build relationships with others who understand provides validation and is critical to living well with this disability.
Support groups reduce loneliness and give hope.
Thank you to all The National Lottery players for giving us the opportunity to apply for this funding and to our volunteers who are the faces of EDS UK and our feet on the ground in Scotland.
