One of the first people to call The Haven when it launched in September last year was a mother who was "just desperate".
"She didn't know where else to go - she was completely lost," said Fiona O'Sullivan, director of children's wellbeing at the Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity (ECHC).
"When we said: 'do you want to come in to see us this evening?', she burst into tears because she just couldn't believe that she could be seen and supported straightaway.
"She was expecting a six to nine month wait, which for a lot of services is still a realistic waiting time.
"The fact that she could make that phonecall in the morning, and be able to see us in the afternoon, was just huge for her."
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The question of what might happen if waiting lists could be eliminated for children, young people, and their families who are struggling with problems ranging from anxiety and self-harm to behavioural problems and eating disorders has been at the core of the thinking behind The Haven.
The initiative, funded for a two-year pilot with £500,000 from the EHRC, has been operational now for just over seven months.
Based at the The Fraser Centre in Tranent, East Lothian, it provides a "wellbeing and resilience" service to families living within the catchment of Ross High School - an area with high levels of deprivation and unmet need.
Drop-in clinics run three afternoons a week enabling people to turn up, without any prior appointment, and be seen immediately.
The ethos is early intervention and prevention - trying to nip issues in the bud before they escalate and, in the long run, relieve pressure on the region's overstretched Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) lists.
While the organisers stress that it is "not a medical service", it is trauma-informed and grounded in psychological approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
For some people, however, their needs can be much simpler.
"Sometimes all people need is to sit down with a cup of tea and have a chat," said O'Sullivan.
"Other times - if we're not the right service for them - we can signpost them straightaway to another service that is appropriate.
"We work with a lot of fantastic organisations, and we can action all that really quickly so they're not waiting.
"The other thing that's really unique to what we do is that, even if the family isn't right for us, we'll follow them up to make sure they're okay - did they manage to access the right support?
"We're not just leaving people to slip through the cracks."
To date, roughly 300 people have turned to The Haven for help - some coming back multiple times.
In total it has notched up nearly 1,500 visits, split more or less evenly between children and teenagers or their wider family members, including parents, siblings, and grandparents.
The vast majority of cases (85%) involve anxiety, but half involve stresses relating to neurodiversity - such as autism or ADHD - and a quarter involve self-harm.
A "small but significant percentage" are youngsters struggling with eating disorders or suicidal thoughts.
Behavioural challenges - for example, children being violent in the home - or feeling unable to attend school are also common themes.
"I think the pandemic has played a huge part in this," said O'Sullivan.
"Going to school - those friendships in their peer group can cause a lot of anxiety.
"We're trying to support the children when they come to us with coping strategies so that they can take those steps back into school and understand why friendships might not have been going how they wanted them to be.
"Then we can really start challenging their thought processes so they can understand better how to control their emotions and feelings."
Service users, asked to give feedback about their experiences anonymously, describe a sense of positivity.
One said they were "drowning before" but credited The Haven with helping them to find the right support, while another said their son was "now much happier talking about his feelings".
Another parent said that their child had previously been verbally and physically violent towards them but "since coming to the Haven this has stopped".
One added: "It's the first time in a long time I feel some relief. I've been fighting for such a long time for my son, and when my daughter's problems started I didn't know what to do."
By basing the service in limited geographical area, the ECHC - which fundraises to provide extra support to sick children within NHS Lothian - wanted to evaluate demand, without becoming overwhelmed.
The goal is to build up evidence for the model's positive effects so that - when the pilot period elapses - there is a business case for The Haven to be publicly-funded on a permanent basis, potentially offering a blueprint for other health board regions.
Roslyn Neely, CEO of the charity, said: "Overwhelmingly, we're very pleased with the first six months.
"There were some things that were unknown in terms of what the demand would be and who would come through the door, so it's been pretty much in line with what we expected.
"What we're trying to do now is getting rigorous data on the difference it's making and the impact it's having.
"Our absolute dream would be that we could demonstrate that we're reducing the impact on CAMHS.
"I don't think we're quite there with the evidence for that yet, but all the indications are that the early intervention approach is supporting children and young people so that they don't end up having to use CAMHS.
"And we're seeing quite a number of young people who are able to return to education where they've maybe been out of the school system for a while."
An oversight board bringing together the team behind The Haven with representatives from Public Health Scotland, NHS Lothian, and charities and academics will meet in June to evaluate the pilot's progress.
Neely said: "The purpose of that is to say 'who's responsible, and here's the difference it makes'.
"It won't be our charity that can be the solution on an ongoing basis, but how could we partner up?
"How could we work across sectors to make a Haven a possibility for everyone who needs one?"
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