Mental health lived experience queries: FOI release

Information requested

1. Does the Scottish Government agree that people should be free to share their psychiatric lived experiences, both to help the individual and the wellbeing of others? Examples that support such a belief would be the Scottish Government funding of See Me, and Mind to Mind, on NHS Inform, which I understand is fully funded by the Scottish Government.

2. Does the Scottish Government also believe that individuals should not be disadvantaged in any way by sharing their lived experiences?

For your awareness, we have numbered your questions as above in order to best structure our response.

Response

Question one:

The answer to question one is yes; the Scottish Government agrees that people should be free to share their psychiatric lived experiences, both to help the individual and the wellbeing of others.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy discusses the importance of lived experience, and as part of our 2025-26 programme budget for mental health of £270.5m, we fund a number of projects/programmes that include lived or living experience as a key part of the work. We have listed this information in ANNEX A: EVIDENCE REGARDING FOI 202500493659.

Question two:

Yes, we believe that individuals should not be disadvantaged by sharing their lived experience. We are aware that for many people with lived experience of mental health issues, fear of stigma and discrimination around the issue creates barriers around sharing their experiences or asking for help and support.

Our work with anti-stigma organisations such as See Me are part of a larger national conversation aiming to tackle mental health stigma and the disadvantages which can come from people being open about their mental health, particularly in certain communities or from certain backgrounds where this can stigmatised.

However, we recognise there will be times when the sharing of lived experience involves difficult subject matter, which may sometimes include experience of self-harm. The Scottish Government would, of course, not be able to support the active promotion of action which could cause harm to self or others as part of any sharing of lived experience.

You can find our full response to this question in ANNEX A: EVIDENCE REGARDING FOI 202500493659

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500493659 - Information released - ANNEX A

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