Island charities have partnered up to provide counselling to those affected by arthritis.

Manx Cancer Help and The Lisa Lowe Centre, which provides specialist psychological therapies for those suffering from cancer, have recently started a collaborative partnership with Without Wings - the Manx Autoimmune Arthritis Trust.

Jacqueline Morrey Grace from Without Wings said: ’Safeguarding the mental health of people living with an autoimmune arthritis diagnosis, is at the heart of Without Wings’ work.

’It is for this reason that - thanks to all the amazing donations we have received, we have recently decided to develop a much stronger, more flexible partnership with The Lisa Lowe Centre.’

The charity announced that it will be buying into a share of a counsellor and that alongside its regular counselling initiative it will be offering early intervention home visits and support for loved ones and carers.

It is also looking at introducing co-ordinated group meetings in the future.

’This is an amazing "dream come true" initiative and we really hope that the support we are able to provide via the fantastic Lisa Lowe, will help nip illness related stress in the bud,’ she added.

’In doing so, our goal is to help people avoid developing more serious mental health issues at a later date. Please, please do contact us if you are in need of this service!’

Andrea Chambers from Manx Cancer Help said: ’We are delighted to be working with this new and very vibrant charity that is raising money to support those affected by autoimmune arthritis.

’The psychological effects of living with a long term condition are very similar whatever the condition is and we are very pleased to be able to offer the specialist skills of our therapy team to support another group of people.

’Collaborative working is hugely important in the current climate in the Isle of Man as it means that publicly donated money is used in the best way to reduce duplication of services which would not be cost effective.’