Wellbeing and prevention
Early intervention and prevention are our main priorities in taking forward our approach to mental health and wellbeing.
We aim to:
- support people to positively engage with their mental health at an early stage, promoting and supporting the conditions for good mental health and wellbeing at a population level and with all communities across Scotland
- ensure that people are able to think about their mental health alongside their physical health and that they have the information and support to be able to do this
- enable people to talk about and seek support for their mental health, without discrimination or stigma
Online support
We have helped provide online resources to help support people’s wellbeing, including:
- launching the Mind to Mind site on NHS Inform to provide practical resources to support the mental wellbeing of the population of Scotland
- creating a specific section on mental health and money worries on Mind to Mind, signposting this content, and other sources of mental health support, on the Cost of Living portal
- working with Change Mental Health and the Money and Pensions Service to develop a Money and Mental Health Toolkit to help people understand, manage and improve their financial health and mental wellbeing
- launching the Supporting Mentally Healthy Workplaces Employer Platform in partnership with Public Health Scotland to ensure employers have the support they need to help promote mentally healthy workplaces
Community support
Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund
We have provided £36 million over two years for our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults, which aims to tackle social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic and more recently the cost crisis. Approximately 3300 awards have been made to local projects across Scotland since 2021. A further £15 million has been committed for 2023/24.
The Fund’s aim is to support communities to address their mental health at an early stage, enabling them to create the conditions for good mental health and wellbeing at a population level whilst ensuring access to a range of support to match their needs.
Read more about the fund:
- year 1 monitoring report and easy read version
- summary of year 1 Funded projects
- external evaluation of year 1 of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults and easy read version
- standalone case studies from the Evaluation Report
- year 2 monitoring report and easy read version
- projects awarded funding in 2022 to 2023 (year 2)
Information about how community organisations can apply to the Fund locally can be found on the TSI Scotland Network page.
All local application processes for 2023/24 funding will be live by 29 September 2023.
To access the funded projects or find out about other local groups or activities to support your wellbeing, visit the ALISS website.
Changing Room: Extra Time
We also provide funding of £100,000 annually (with a commitment over 2021 to 2024) to support The Changing Room: Extra Time, which provides opportunities for users to participate in activities, engage with others and explore specific areas which impact on their mental health. It is an extension of The Changing Room project and is run by SAMH in partnership with the SPFL Trust and associated community trusts.
Tackling stigma and discrimination
We have continued commitment 1.6 of the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan to tackling the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness by providing £1 million of annual funding until 2026 for See Me, Scotland’s national campaign to end mental health stigma and discrimination.
Peer support and the Scottish Recovery Network
We provide funding of £475,000 each year to support the work of the Scottish Recovery Network (SRN), an organisation, managed by Penumbra, that seeks to promote and support the development of recovery and peer support across Scotland.
National Rural Mental Health Forum
We provide funding of £50,000 each year to fund the National Rural Mental Health Forum (the Forum) and work collaboratively with the Forum. Led in partnership with Change Mental Health and the Rural Policy Centre of Scotland’s Rural College, the Forum helps people in rural areas maintain good mental health and wellbeing by developing connections between communities across rural Scotland.
Supporting mentally healthy workplaces: National Learning Network for Employers
In partnership with See Me and Public Health Scotland, we have established a national learning network for employers across Scotland to share practice and experiences on how they are supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. We encourage anyone who has leadership responsibility within their organisation for supporting mental health and wellbeing to join the network.