Tag: Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund

£15 million mental health funding

Community support for third year of fund to help more projects

Projects to support mental health and address social isolation and loneliness in adults will share a further £15 million this year.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, launched in 2021, has now provided around 3,300 grants to community organisations delivering mental health and wellbeing support, bringing total investment to £51 million.  

Activities will target older people, areas of economic deprivation, people with  long term health conditions or disability and LGBTI communities. The Fund has also had a particular focus on responding to the cost of living crisis, which remains a priority this year.

Improved mental health and wellbeing support is one of the commitments in the Scottish Government’s Policy Prospectus, which outlines firm actions to be achieved by 2026.

Health Secretary Michael Matheson visited Pause and Breathe, a social enterprise, in High Bonnybridge yesterday (Friday 21 April) where he announced the additional funding. 

He said: “This investment reflects the importance we place on promoting good mental health and early intervention for those facing mental health challenges –  ensuring that people can access a range of different types of help to match their needs.

“The Fund will continue to support a range of valuable community mental health and wellbeing projects, reflecting one of the priorities set out by the First Minister earlier this week.”

Pause and Breathe was awarded £10,000 from last year’s fund to offer a variety of wellbeing sessions and activities. Work is underway to change a building that has lain unused in High Bonnybridge for 20 years.

Managing Director Susie Hooper said: “This funding will enable us to hold free weekly wellbeing sessions throughout the whole year and means we can support people who wouldn’t otherwise attend due to financial constraints.”

£15 million boost for Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund

A fund launched last year to tackle the social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic, has been awarded a further £15 million.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults was launched in October last year, and has helped nearly 2,000 community projects to deliver activities and programmes in its first year.

It has supported a wide range of projects including sport, outdoor initiatives, arts and crafts and nature, and covering groups such as older people, those with a long term health conditions or disabilities, people living in rural areas and the LGBT community.

The new investment will allow the fund to continue for another year.

Speaking ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is loneliness, and we know the pandemic has brought this issue into much greater focus. The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund has supported many projects that help to make people feel less isolated.

“The fund was set up to build and develop capacity within community organisations and grass roots groups so they can support people’s mental health and wellbeing. I am pleased that so many projects benefitted in the first year.

“This investment reflects the importance we place on promoting good mental health and early intervention for those facing mental health challenges –  ensuring that people can access a range of different types of support to match their needs. It will help us to continue to support a range of valuable community mental health and wellbeing projects across Scotland.”

Cowal Elderly Befrienders in Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, is one organisation which has received funding. The organisation works with men aged 65 and over to reduce social isolation in a group known to be hard to reach.

It provides befriending services designed to improve the quality of life, reduce isolation and loneliness which in turn aids the prevention of suicide. The service also helps keep older people independent and active in their communities.

Robin Miller, Project Coordinator said: “The numbers of older people we support has steadily increased and we now support over 200 each week. Many of the men we support are keen to remain as independent as possible and do not initially reach out for help – it can take weeks or months of sympathetic support to build up confidence, trust and an acceptance of outside help.

“Our work also allows older people to make a positive contribution to the work – in the small groups we work with. Our older men often support each other, thereby increasing their sense of self-worth and allowing them to actively further our aims.

“The funding we have recently received will allowed us to sustain and develop our work. Over the coming year, our Men on Board project will help us to focus more closely on older men, provide much needed support for them and provide insights into what isolated older men need, want and why this group is often viewed as ‘hard to reach’.”

Additional £6 million funding for community mental health

An additional £6m has been provided to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund to meet the demand for local mental health and wellbeing projects.

The fund was launched in October last year with £15 million to support grass roots community groups and organisations to deliver activities and programmes for adults which tackle the social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic. 

The funding provides an opportunity to re-connect and revitalise communities building on examples of good practice which emerged throughout the pandemic. Projects supporting sport, outdoor and nature initiatives as well as arts and crafts were successful in the initial funding.

Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “This additional £6 million is being provided in light of the positive demand for the original £15 million announced in October last year. We have seen lots of high quality bids for projects that will undoubtedly make a real difference to local communities and we want to support as much of this as possible.

“The importance of community interventions in supporting people’s mental wellbeing cannot be underestimated and prevention and early intervention is a priority for the Scottish Government.”

The Good Morning Service in Glasgow is one organisation which has received funding. Around 400 older people have benefitted from the service which builds meaningful relationships through regular telephone befriending sessions.

The service directly monitors mental and physical well-being, reducing social isolation, and flags potential health problems whenever a Good Morning Call remains unanswered.

Good Night Calls are also provided from November to February alleviating the heightened sense of loneliness that the dark winter nights can bring.

Nicky Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of the Good Morning Service, said; “Simply put, without the support from the Scottish Government we wouldn’t be able to run our 365 day life-enhancing and life-saving service providing practical and emotional support.

 “The Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund has enabled us to reach more people in need. Notably, it is the light-touch, non-intrusive nature of our support which is very attractive to older people. We don’t diminish their sense of  ability to live independently, we enhance it.

“Operationally, on Good Morning Calls we take whatever time is needed to help people to implement their coping strategies and build resilience. Resilient people build resilient communities, which is what we need at this challenging time.”

£15 million to help improve mental wellbeing in communities

A new fund has been established to help tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and the mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic. The £15 million Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund aims to support adult community-based initiatives across Scotland.

Grass roots community groups and organisations will be able to benefit from the funds to deliver activities and programmes to people to re-connect and revitalise communities building on examples of good practice which have emerged throughout the pandemic.

Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart launched the fund at Saheliya in Edinburgh, a specialist mental health and well-being support organisation for black and minority ethnic women and girls.

Mr Stewart said: “This funding reflects the importance we place on promoting good mental health and early intervention for those in distress and will help develop a culture of mental wellbeing and prevention within local communities.

“It is vital now, more than ever as we start to re-open society that we support the mental health and wellbeing of individuals. I am very keen that this benefits communities across all of Scotland.

“I was pleased to be able to visit Saheliya this morning and meet some of the people involved with running and the project, and some of the people they help.”

A range of charity-support bodies and social enterprises, known as third sector interfaces,  will manage the fund in partnership with local integrated health authorities and other partners including Community Planning Partnerships and local authority mental health leads.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is part of the wider £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February 2021 to ensure delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan in response to the mental health need arising from the pandemic.