Tag: mental health and wellbeing

Behind Every Business is a Person: ASSC Launches Mental Health & Wellbeing Campaign

The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) has launched Behind Every Business is a Person, a month-long campaign putting the mental health and wellbeing of the people behind Scotland’s self-catering businesses firmly in the spotlight.

Self-catering businesses do more than provide a place to stay. Behind the warm welcomes, memorable stays and contribution these businesses make to Scotland’s visitor economy and communities are people managing the everyday realities of running a small business – often alongside significant and sustained external pressures.

The latest ASSC Barometer survey provides a clear reason for starting this conversation: more than two-thirds of operators said running their business had negatively affected their mental health or wellbeing, against a backdrop of rising costs, cumulative regulation, concerns about profitability and continued uncertainty.

Running throughout September, the campaign brings together ASSC evidence and member experiences with practical advice and support from specialist groups Hospitality Health and the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH).

Hospitality Health has contributed guidance specifically relevant to self-catering operators – from setting a communications cut-off and switching off business notifications, to scheduling proper time away and talking to someone when pressure begins to build. The campaign will also signpost members and the wider sector to trusted mental health and wellbeing resources available through SAMH.

At the heart of the campaign are ASSC members themselves. Over the coming weeks, the Association will share some of the faces and voices behind Scotland’s self-catering businesses, alongside practical wellbeing advice, information about where to find support, and simple ways operators can look out for themselves and one another.

The campaign has two aims. First, the ASSC wants members and the wider self-catering community to know they are not simply statistics – that their wellbeing matters. The Association will continue to listen, build connections across its community, and work with trusted specialist organisations to help members access appropriate support.

Second, the campaign will support the ASSC’s ongoing advocacy by ensuring the human impact of the pressures facing the sector is recognised, with the Association continuing to gather evidence and use members’ experiences in its conversations with government and policymakers.

Fiona Campbell MBE, Chief Executive of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said: “Our members are at the heart of everything we do, and our evidence is telling us very clearly that the cumulative pressures facing the self-catering sector are having an impact on the people behind these businesses.

“Behind every licence, booking, regulation and statistic is a person – someone running a business, supporting their family, welcoming visitors and contributing to their local community.

“We have a responsibility both to support those people and to make sure their experiences are heard. This campaign is about saying to our members: we see you, we are listening and we have your back.

“This is not something we intend to talk about for four weeks and then move on from. We want this campaign to be the beginning of a longer-term commitment to wellbeing within our sector.”

Gordon McIntyre MBE, Founder and Chairman of Hospitality Health, said: “Running a hospitality business can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be demanding. For self-catering operators in particular, the boundaries between work and home can easily disappear, making it difficult to properly switch off.

“As another busy summer season draws to a close, this is an important opportunity to remind people that looking after their own wellbeing matters too.

“Small changes, honest conversations and knowing where to turn for support can all make a difference.

“Hospitality Health is delighted to work alongside ASSC on Behind Every Business is a Person, helping to bring practical wellbeing advice and support to the people who work so hard to look after Scotland’s visitors.”

Scotland must turn its back on poverty-related stigma, say MSPs and activists

A new report published by Holyrood’s Cross Party Group on Poverty says that bias against people in poverty affects their mental health and wellbeing, makes it harder to access the support they are entitled to, lessens their educational chances and makes policies designed to tackle poverty less effective.

Group convener Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP said: “Scotland is a place that believes in compassion and justice, but people in poverty and on low incomes are having to face almost daily prejudice. That’s just not right, and it must stop.

“Poverty is caused by an unjust economy, and a social security system that doesn’t meet people’s needs. Our inquiry has found that the way people talk about poverty matters, and can have a clear impact on people on low incomes. That’s especially true when the people talking are politicians, in the media, or those delivering the public services that we all rely on.

“It’s time for everyone in Scotland to turn our back on these unjust attitudes and behaviours, and to call it out when they come across it. We’ll be a better, fairer, more just society as a result.”

Since January last year, the Group has been carrying out an inquiry into the stigma associated with poverty in Scotland today, hearing evidence from people with lived experience of living in poverty and on low incomes.

One disabled participant speaking to the Glasgow Disability Alliance said: “It can be difficult if you have a hidden impairment – people think there is nothing wrong with you or you are ‘at it’. My adviser at the Department for Work & Pensions actually said ‘This is not a disability’.”

One 15-year-old school pupil told the Child Poverty Action Group: “Well, I think if all of your friends or people you know go to the after-school clubs, school trips, that kind of isolates you from them. You’re singled out, you’re not with them, just a spare person.”

Another 12-year-old pupil said: “They talk behind your back [about what you wear] and stand staring at you.”

The Group heard evidence about the difficulties faced by parents on low incomes. The Child Poverty Action Group spoke to parents and caregivers heard about the ‘guilt, embarrassment and shame’ they are often made to feel about their financial situation.

Poverty Alliance director Peter Kelly said: “We all have a right to social support, and no-one should be made to feel ashamed for using it. We are recommending that more investment is made into making sure every household is able to get all the help they’re entitled to.”

The inquiry report highlights how involving people with experience of poverty can make public services better. The new Social Security Scotland agency was praised for its work to make sure staff know how important it is to treat people with dignity and respect.

The Group is calling for people who work with the public in Scotland to be trained about the reality of poverty, and for a strong stand against language and behaviour that stigmatises people on low incomes.

And the report also recommends making education about poverty part of Scotland’s national curriculum for schools, helping to project young people from its effects and giving them the tools and confidence to call it out and stand up against it.

Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “The submissions to this inquiry have highlighted that poverty-related stigma is extensive and deep-rooted in Scotland.

“It is impacting people’s mental health and wellbeing, erecting barriers to accessing support, restricting educational attainment, and influencing the design and resourcing of policies that can tackle poverty.

“Now is the time to end it.”

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