Mental Health and Wellbeing Leadership Board: delivery progress report 3 - February 2025

Actions Delivered Since Last Reporting Period and Known Achievements/Impacts/Learning

Action 1.1.3

Drawing on learning from participants, continue to support the delivery of the Changing Room: Extra Time programme in football clubs in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen to support men by creating a safe space for them to speak openly about their mental wellbeing throughout the life of this Delivery Plan.

• Of the overall programme (90 participants), almost 50% of participants are from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and 60% of attendees are from the age range most at risk of suicide in Scotland (35-54 years old).
• An alumni event was hosted in November 2023 to celebrate the end of the most recent series of cohorts. The event saw around 80 people attending with additional representation from ‘Movember’ (and the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) Trust).

Action 2.1.1

Throughout the lifespan of this Delivery Plan, work with NHS 24 to develop new content on ‘Mind to Mind’ mental wellbeing website. This will include developing further lived experience content to better reflect the needs of people from lower socio-economic groups and minority ethnics communities for example, expanding the range of practical advice and improving signposting.

• Phase 2 delivered and current site views number over 470k. Improvements include increase in representation of lived experience including men, and gypsy/traveller. Introduction of new theme (social isolation and loneliness) and separation of existing theme (panic and anxiety) as well as the addition of a specific signposting page with links divided into easy to find topics.
• Planning for Phase 3 is underway; current planned topics for inclusion on the site include practical tips (deep breathing, mindfulness exercises), an increase in isolation resources and information around the benefits of physical activity on mental health.

• A recent survey of circa 100 users of the ‘Mind to Mind’ site has shown, 60% of users said they were likely or very likely to talk about their mental health after using the site, 79% of users said they either felt more reassured they are not alone, felt better equipped to manage their mental health or feel more positive about their mental wellbeing.

Action 2.1.2

Throughout the lifespan of this Delivery Plan, work in partnership with stakeholders to raise awareness of resources on Mind to Mind and promote messaging in a number of ways, including digital, radio and face-to-face, such as sports clubs and other venues.

• Evaluation and insights for 2025 public awareness campaign to be provided in April 2025.
• The previous autumn / winter public messaging campaign completed for 2023-24 was successful. During the October - November campaign, over 10m digital impressions were recorded across multiple channels including Meta, Facebook and Twitch. Radio impacts saw 34m impressions from marketing which included targeted advertising for target audience stations including Awaz FM, Panjab Radio and SAM Radio and community radio including Isles FM, Argyll FM and others. AV advertising saw 4.6m impressions and STV specific marketing saw M2M over 2m viewers during programmes such as Coronation Street and STV news. Out of home marketing saw posters outside Tesco and Asda supermarkets and at Glasgow and Edinburgh rail stations; tactical support also ran marketing targeting men in pubs close to football stadia and betting shops with beer mats and washroom panels.
• In addition, Scottish Government colleagues have worked to raise awareness of the site with key partners and in key areas. This included working with organisations such as Help for Heroes and Scottish Parliament to have the site included within their information to staff and/or service users. In addition, targeted partnership work saw Mind to Mind advertised by footballs clubs such as Hearts of Midlothian, Hibernian, Motherwell and Dundee FC; national organisations such as the Scottish Building Federation and Scotrail. A barber shop pop up in partnership with the Lions Barber Collective in St Enochs Centre, Glasgow, also proved popular.

Action 2.1.3

By spring 2024, redevelop online mental health and wellbeing self help and support content, to respond to the needs of children and young people, and their parents and carers. This includes a refresh Young Scot’s Aye Feel mental health and wellbeing hub, and expansion and development of the resources and content on Parent Club, including the 'Wellbeing for Wee Ones' Hub.

• Funding provided to Young Scot, LGBT Youth Scotland and Scottish Youth Parliament to update and maintain mental health and wellbeing self-help and support content, including promotion of Parent Club resources.

Action 2.4.1

Throughout the life of this Delivery Plan, engage with frontline and support services to ensure they can access a range of mental health awareness resources and training opportunities that meet their needs. This includes promoting the mental health and money worries advice pack for frontline workers, ensuring it is available digitally across a range of platforms, and seeking feedback on its content to support continuous improvement.

• The advice pack has been promoted and shared through many different networks, websites and events including the national learning network for employers, the National Rural Mental Health Forum, a workshop with Local Employability Partnerships and through local COSLA networks. This has supported our understanding of the issues they see in clients and the learning, development and support they require. Feedback from stakeholders about the advice pack has been extremely positive.

Action 2.5.1

Throughout the life of this Delivery Plan, work collaboratively with partners, to further develop and promote the ‘Supporting a mentally healthy workplace employer’ platform, building on feedback from employers to ensure content remains up-to-date and continues to meet their needs.

• The platform continues to be used by employers and other stakeholders to access a range of mental health resources and information.

Action 2.5.3

Throughout the lifespan of this Delivery Plan, work collaboratively to promote the ‘See Me in Work’ programme to ensure there is more awareness and engagement amongst employers. This will help to address mental health stigma in workplaces and create working environments that are open, inclusive and responsive to mental health needs.

• In the last 6 months of See Me's work:
  • 90 people have taken part in the See Me in Work e-learning module.
  • 65 people registered for the See Me in Work webinar for healthcare employers.
  • 180 employers directly engaged in See Me in Work in some way.
  • 4 large employers have signed up to the See Me in work portal which has the potential reach of 7,990 employees within these organisations.
  • 4 more employers are working on their application or making the case to their leaders to join the Portal.
  • 16 organisations are currently active on the See Me in Work Portal with a reach of 12,795 employees.
• Number of people who have interacted with the Information for Employers:
  • The See Me in work Webpage, between April 2024 and September 2024: Total view = 413, Active users = 266, Event count = 909.
  • 54 Police Scotland Wellbeing Champions trained in the pilot. Rollout will lead to all 260 Wellbeing Champions trained overall.

Action 3.1.1

Over the life of the Delivery Plan, continue to fund local authorities to provide community based mental health and wellbeing supports for children and young people, focused on prevention, early intervention and emotional distress

• £15 million funding for local authorities allocated in 24/25, funding baselined from 25/26 onwards.

• Numbers and outcomes for children, young people and families accessing these services continue to be collated, with 83,000 people accessing them in the 9-month period to March 2024. The number of children/ young people and families accessing them continues to rise. Independent review on impact of services has been conducted and published by the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP).

Action 3.2.3

Actively promote the value of community-based interventions for children, young people and adults, sharing good practice and delivering a range of joint communications activities and national learning events by March 2024.

Action 4.5.2

Embed the Time, Space, Compassion principles and expand supports to meet a range of needs, including increasing access to more existing and developing services, and developing a mental health unscheduled care resource pack by autumn 2024.

• MH Policy colleagues have worked with Simon Community Scotland and Fast Forward's Gambling Education Hub to develop a bespoke toolkit for Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Practitioners supporting people affected by gambling harms, which is now live on the DBI members' page. We will use the learning from this tailoring of resource to adapt materials for other support organisations.

Action 5.1.2

Throughout the life of this Delivery Plan, develop and embed consideration of mental health and an understanding of socio-economic determinants of mental health within local leadership and planning for example in relation to sports, culture, housing, education and greenspace.

• Improvement Service Elected Member Social Determinants Briefing Note
• Training on social determinants of mental health made available to elected members via the improvement service. Training well received and elected members attending had a good understanding of mental health determinants.
• Mental Health Workshop session held with the Scottish Community Planning network, and engagement undertaken with Child Poverty Peer Support Network.

Action 6.2.3

Using a similar approach to the core standards, work with partners to measure and implement the Service Specification for Psychological Interventions and Therapies (published September 2023), recognising that some of the outcomes are already being delivered.

• Self-assessment tool has been rolled out across all Scottish NHS Boards.

Action 6.2.4

The Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) launched a new digital version of the Psychological Therapies Matrix in autumn 2023 to provide accessible and up to date evidence and best practice for psychological services. NES will continue to update the Matrix iteratively, reflecting any changes in the available evidence base.

Action 6.2.5

Consult on and publish a National Specification for Eating Disorder Care and Treatment in Scotland by early 2024.

• Care & Treatment of Eating Disorders: National Specification published 20 November 2024.
• National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland - Consultation Analysis Report.

Action 6.5.2

By June 2024, deliver the first phase of work to develop a set of national measures that provide robust and accessible evidence of the functioning of key mental health services at Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and Health Board level.

• Following a collaborative design process, Public Health Scotland (PHS) published the first iteration of the Mental Health Quality Indicators Dashboard, which allows interactive summaries of the data and breakdowns at Board and HSCP level. This first iteration has 3 indicators with sub-national data and PHS are planning continuous improvement to deliver further breakdowns and new indicators in subsequent versions.

Action 6.6.1.

By autumn 2024, develop policy proposals to address all of the issues identified with Adults with Incapacity legislation and have publicly consulted on the proposed changes.

• Adults with Incapacity Amendment Act: Consultation Analysis Summary published January 2025.

Action 9.1.6

Improve understanding of the mental health and wellbeing needs of the neurodivergent community across the life course and explore new models of support.

• Through both our Leadership and Engagement work and the evaluation work that has been done on the Adult Autism Support Fund, we have co-produced resources that enhance our understanding of these issues.