No-one experiencing depression, low mood or anxiety should suffer in silence this Christmas, Scotland’s Minister for Mental Health has said. Maureen Watt highlighted the help and support that’s available at a time of year when some people can experience mental health problems associated with stress and loneliness. Continue reading Mental health: help is at hand this Christmas season
An additional £10 million will be invested to fund more than 30 new ways of supporting mental health in primary care. The funding, confirmed in this week’s draft budget statement, is part of the Scottish Government’s efforts to improve early intervention and put more focus on prevention. Continue reading £10 million to support early intervention in mental health
MHScot Workplace Wellbeing are delighted to announce dates for the next SMHFA Open Course taking place in Edinburgh – full details below:
https://www.mhscot-consultancy.co.uk/scotlands-mental-health-first-aid.html
If you require further details please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Best wishes
June Dickson
MHScot Workplace Wellbeing CIC
>>> Check out our NEW e-learning, computerised CBT and Managing Mental Health at Work CPD Accredited Course
>>> Check out our Third Force News article on stress at work
0774 981 7473 | MHScot tries to observe Email Overload (please consider the same)
Visit us on Facebook | Tweet us on Twitter | Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn | Connect with June on LinkedIn
We all have mental health – but are we looking after it?
Scottish Association for Mental Health is encouraging people in Edinburgh to take time out for Mental Health Awareness Week.
New figures from SAMH show that 94 per cent of us think our mental health is as or more important than our physical health; yet around a quarter of us never take time to look after it.
The figures have been revealed on World Mental Health Day (10 October) and SAMH is encouraging people in Edinburgh to mark the occasion by doing something that benefits their well-being.
Talking to friends or family was the most popular way to improve mental health, followed closely by reading, physical exercise, and listening to or playing music.
Jo Anderson, Director of External Affairs at SAMH said: “We all have mental health, just as we all have physical health, and it’s important that we look after it. This Mental Health Awareness Week we want to get people thinking about their own mental health and the kind of things that improve it. Throughout the week we’ll be highlighting ideas and inspiration, and hope that people will get involved and share their own experiences.”
You can follow SAMH on Twitter @SAMHTweets or find us on Facebook/SAMHmentalhealth and Instagram @SAMHscotland
SAMH’s Five Ways to Better Mental Health can be downloaded at www.samh.org.uk/mental-health-information/five-ways-to-better-mental-health
A coalition of independent and third sector children and young people’s service providers has called for urgent action from the Scottish Government to increase investment in and radically improve mental health services for children and young people. Continue reading Call for action as half of Scotland’s Health Boards miss child mental health targets
An Edinburgh service which supports people experiencing a mental health crisis has seen demand for help rise by 300 PER CENT since it first opened its doors ten years ago. Continue reading Crisis point: 300% increase in calls to city mental health service
EVOC’s June Dickson supported the local voluntary sector’s participation in community planning through the Neighbourhood Partnerships. She recently moved on to an exciting new role and explains what it’s all about:
I wanted to get in touch to introduce you to my new role as a Director of http://www.mhscot-consultancy.co.uk/, Scotland’s first Social Enterprise tackling stress prevention and early mental health intervention in the workplace.
SAMH REDHALL WALLED GARDEN OPEN DAY
Redhall Walled Garden is holding its annual community Razzmatazz open day on Saturday 9 July from 12-5pm. All welcome
To summarise what’s on offer :-
Redhall Walled Garden
97 Lanark Road, Edinburgh EH14 2LZ
0131 443 0946
Garden is open to the public Monday- Friday 9am -3:30pm
To find out more about Redhall see our video on Youtube click on
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VglRmOglZis
or attend our Information day on the first Wednesday of every month – phone to book.
Minister speaks about the importance of new role
Commenting on her new role as Mental Health Minister at the end of Mental Health Awareness Week, Maureen Watt said:
“I am extremely proud to be appointed as Scotland’s first dedicated Mental Health Minister, and the first in the UK. Starting my new position during Mental Health Awareness Week makes it particularly special for me – a reminder of what an important role it is.
“Mental Health is an absolute priority of this government, demonstrated by the fact that we have committed an additional £150 million to improve mental health services. Some of that has already been invested in innovation; improving access to child and adolescent mental health services and psychological therapies; and primary care. I look forward to announcing more details of how the remainder will be spent in the coming weeks and months. Later this year we will be publishing a ten year strategy to improve mental health and services – I see this as the centrepiece of this Government’s focus on improving Mental Health.
“We are currently working on the development of the next Strategy, and over the last few months we have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders including people who use services, service providers and professional bodies. The Scottish Association for Mental Health and Voices of Experience also hosted engagement events and the Strategy will be informed by all of the comments and input that we have received.
“I want us to focus more on prevention and early intervention. By addressing mental health problems as early as possible, we can prevent people from becoming more distressed, and improve access to services when needed by reducing pressure on the NHS.
“We need to think about new and innovative ways to improve mental health. That means looking for approaches that go beyond traditional health settings. It will also mean taking advantage of the well-known links between physical health and mental wellbeing. If we can get people more active, the benefits are enormous. We want to tackle the 15-20 year difference in life expectancy for people living with serious mental illness.
“Around 90 per cent of mental health problems are dealt with in primary care settings, so this will be a priority area for us. Part of the £150 million will be used to fund new ways of responding to these issues in and around GP surgeries.
“In recent years we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people accessing mental health services. If that means more people are prepared to ask for help rather than suffer in silence, that should be welcomed. NHS boards are seeing more people than ever before, but I’m clear that more work needs to be done to meet the waiting time standards we have set.
“Finally I want to say something about the stigma which still exists around mental health. It is completely wrong that people with mental health issues suffer discrimination and stigma. Sadly too many still do.
“The Scottish Government, in collaboration with Comic Relief, funds the See Me initiative to help address this, and they do valuable work. But the truth is that each and every one of us has it within our power to do our bit to end this stigma, and to be more understanding of people who have mental health problems.”
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK STATEMENT
This Mental Health Awareness Week See Me we are calling on everyone to start talking more about mental health and to be there for each other.
Mental health is part of everyone’s day to day life, it affects all of us, but there is still a stigma around it.
To tackle this properly people need to understand that it is okay not to be okay, however it is not okay for anyone to suffer alone in silence.
You don’t have to be an expert to speak about mental health, just asking someone if they are okay can be a powerful thing.
We need to change the culture around mental health so people with mental health problems to feel confident enough to talk, without the fear that they will be stigmatised and discriminated against.
No one should ever be made to feel ashamed or embarrassed to tell anyone that they experience mental health problems.
For move information visit
https://www.seemescotland.org/
People with mental health problems will be encouraged to become more physically active following a near £1 million investment from the Scottish Government. The programme, a collaboration between the Scottish Government and mental health charity SAMH, will build on the well-established links between physical activity and improved mental wellbeing. Continue reading Changing minds: government supports new physical activity programme
