Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund: year 1 - monitoring and reporting summary

Annex B Projects by region

Aberdeen City

TLC befriending service: This service matches volunteer befrienders with individuals referred to us via the Primary Links Practitioners, based in doctor’s surgeries across Aberdeen. The service aims to act as an early intervention to alleviate the feelings of loneliness and isolation, which has adversely affected an individual’s mental health and wellbeing, by supporting and building individuals' community connectedness and personal resilience.

Aberdeenshire

Aden Community Allotment Association: The project facilitates the outdoor growing of food, supporting people to build networks; increases access to fresh air and natural light to enable wellbeing for attendees.

Angus

Kirrie connections: This involves the creation of a Community Garden at dementia “Meeting Centre” in Kirriemuir, with a focus specifically on supporting people with dementia and their carers.

Argyll and Bute

Cowal Elderly Befrienders: The project is aimed at older men living at home in Cowal and Bute who are referred after being identified as being over 65 and at risk of loneliness and social isolation. For example, in response to an isolated elderly person being referred by their GP, an Outreach Worker visits weekly and a working bond is established.

Scottish Borders

FirstLight: The project will train FirstLight Trust support staff and café hub assistants to understand/deal with the effects of secondary trauma. They will then run psycho education support groups on a 1:1 basis as well as remotely for those who have to shield or live outside Hawick. The course will last for 6 weeks. Support staff will learn about secondary trauma, its impact and how to support those who suffer. The workshops will be created by a qualified trauma therapist who has worked with veterans and their families for years.

Clackmannanshire and Stirling

Wee County Veterans: This was a small group that helps veterans cope with life after service. There are a high number of veterans in Clackmannanshire. The service provided a drop-in through lockdown which was hugely welcomed and this new funding has helped them now identify a new venue that they will be leasing from the council to provide a permanent place that they can help and support veterans.

Dumfries and Galloway

Animal assisted farm: The project will assist young adults struggling with stress, anxiety, and low self-worth to create a picture book style book of fictional stories with Mossburn Community Farm and their animals as the setting and inspiration.

Dundee City

Scrapantics - A refugee community leader will be employed for an initial 16 week period with the objective of developing provision which responds to community need. Funding will enable additional experienced community work support. The weekly activity programme in ScrapAntics Wellgate Centre space will involve a men’s group, women’s group and sewing course.

East Ayrshire

Women’s Aid- Developing a wellbeing programme for members and other women across East Ayrshire. This will be delivered by weekly group sessions and supplemented with wellbeing bags for every woman. The programme will include meditation and mindfulness; yoga; mindful walks, learning breathing, grounding and resourcing techniques; aromatherapy; relaxation. The bags will include gratitude journals, rescue remedy, and self-care items.

East Dunbartonshire

Kirkintilloch Ladies Choir: This project have gathered for the first time in person in over 2 years due to the pandemic. The funding has secured a location for them to meet and work to reduce loneliness and isolation on Kirkintilloch.

East Lothian

Families outside: support 60-70 families that can be affected by imprisonment of a loved one in East Lothian at any given time. Support is holistic and solution-focused, working with families to identify their needs and the outcomes they wish to achieve. This service works in tandem with our helpline which offers a range of support for families, while also signposting to local services. As a first contact point, their helpline also acts as a referral source, linking callers requiring more intensive support.

East Renfrewshire

Cricket 4 ALL: The project is all about getting people out in a safe space where they can meet, share stories, build confidence and enjoy a social game of cricket. They aim to bring communities together, listen, and help signpost those who need help to local services. They are particularly keen to help carers and those who have had challenging times during Covid.

Edinburgh

Greenspace Trust: Deliver 24 half day taster sessions where 8-10 people from gypsy and traveller communities try out different activities in local greenspaces.

Falkirk

Walk and Talk Project: The Breastfeeding Network’s Walk and Talk Project utilises existing dedicated community support for new parents and families as a vehicle for providing additional wellbeing support for those who need it through ‘walk and talk’ sessions, allowing people to spend time walking outdoors whilst talking with trained volunteer facilitators. Highlights and successes of the project so far include seeing an increased number of men/dads participating in these activities.

Fife

Corrie Centre Senior Citizens Social Club: A weekly meeting which allows the group to meet, take part in social activities with their friends with refreshments provided. They secured money to pay for transport to alleviate fears about attending the group due to Covid and low self-confidence brought on by sustained lockdown, as well as hall hire and refreshment costs. the group have a few additional people attending weekly session with a marked improvement in their confidence and well-being.

Glasgow

The Halliday Foundation will run their new Community Café in Barrowfield Community Centre with Wellbeing Funding helping to provide a place for local people to connect and engage in a welcoming environment. Their menus are professionally prepared from mainly donated ingredients. Customers can opt to ‘pay it forward’ so a monetary fund is built up that provides free meals to customers in need and helps reduce food insecurity.

Highland

Highlife Highland: Healthy Minds Badenoch & Strathspey. To reach seldom heard members of the community who are struggling with mental health due to the pandemic, providing bushcraft activities, wildlife identification, giving groups an opportunity to relax, learn about and enjoy nature and wildlife on their doorstep.

Inverclyde

Meet, Make, Grow & Share: The project aim is to reduce isolation and loneliness predominately for older men, who can be difficult to reach in terms of mental and physical health advice. The model relies on a ‘peer to peer’ support network where those with lived experience help support others with advice and friendship, importantly however, at people’s own pace.

Midlothian

Artlink: Development of arts related provision to support people with complex learning disabilities and autism in Midlothian.

Moray

Cullen Sea School Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative: The projects provides a range of free water based and on-shore courses, events and activities. By removing a cost barrier, this will allow anyone who is interested the opportunity to attend regularly.

North Ayrshire

‘Fill Your Bucket’: North Ayrshire Recovery College established ‘Fill Your Bucket’ which is based on positive phycology to encourage a fresh movement of kindness in the community. They are hosting a film festival with trauma informed documentaries, a film making workshop and a feel-good film

North Lanarkshire

Bazooka Arts: Connect Access: Aim: To provide access to therapeutic support to people with mental health problems currently on the Bazooka arts waiting list Approach: Entry level therapeutic arts support designed to reduce stress & anxiety in addition to building confidence & self-esteem including visual art, drama, dance, yoga and therapeutic movement designed to improve mental & physical health.

Orkney Islands

Hoy and walls wellbeing: The funding will be used to provide two weekly wellbeing groups, firstly one for gentle chair-based exercise, and the second for an informal group which will provide an opportunity for people to meet together and discuss issues that cause concern and worry.

Perth and Kinross

Pink Saltire: To develop a pop-up LGBT+ Hub in Perth which will provide a range of activities to support the mental health and resilience of the local LGBT+ community such as tasters in areas of health, sports and creative activities, social events and a life coaching programme.

Renfrewshire

Parkrun UK: Parkrun UK is a well-established organisations but this application came from a resident of Erskine who aims to start a 5 kilometer run in a local park. This individual has had personal experience of the benefits running can have on mental health, particularly during lockdown, and wanted to create a local opportunity for Erskine

Shetland Islands

Menopause group: We provided a safe space for women experiencing the menopause to come together to support each other and access therapeutic services. 21 women attended the group that occurred weekly in a community hall setting. It was a space where everyone felt very comfortable discussing any aspect of the symptoms they were experiencing. A space where they did not feel judged or silly,

South Ayrshire

Riverside stories: Arts project for those with severe and multiple disadvantage focusing on creative writing, visual art and film and community events.

South Lanarkshire

Biggar community action group will facilitate arts and craft activities with the older population within the village. Some of the funds will be used to establish a ‘death café’ one day a month from the local community centre within the village’s main street. The ‘death café’ gives participants the opportunity to have open conversations around the subject of death and loss.

West Dunbartonshire

Walking the StressAway - this project providing physical activity opportunities for kinship carers is an important one spanning a range of mental health challenges and offering connectivity across a range of mental wellbeing issues

Western Isles

Bragar and Arnol Siorsa Project (Freedom Project) - aims to reduce social isolation for a targeted group of isolated individuals in a remote community. This project is being run by a community group who are using a befriending model. TSI officers were able to direct the group to Befriending networks for advice and assistance in starting up, they were also able to give advice concerning health and safety and risk assessment for volunteers.

West Lothian

Sporting Memories - running activity classes for older people with dementia. Application seeks to put on range of weekly sporting memory sessions in Broxburn and Bathgate for older people experiencing social isolation and loneliness. Physical activity sessions also planned to support mental health and well-being.