Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: evaluation

1. Introduction

This report presents the findings from the evaluation of Year 1 of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults. The evaluation was, however, conducted at the end of Year 2 and as a result, the research was also able to take account of some of the developments that took place in Year 2 and draw out learning from this.

Aims of the evaluation

In February 2023, the Scottish Government commissioned Blake Stevenson Ltd to undertake an evaluation of the Communties Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults (the Fund).

The overall aim of the research was to develop a richer understanding of the delivery of the Fund in terms of both process and impacts; and produce accessible, user-friendly case studies which exemplify the successes, challenges and learning from the Fund. A set of case studies highlighting the impact of the Fund is included throughout the main report and is also available in a standalone document.

The Scottish Government's Communities Team within the Wellbeing and Prevention Unit of the Mental Health Directorate specified that the evaluation should:

• Assess the effectiveness of the delivery model in terms of TSIs being the lead funder partner
• Assess the effectiveness of the delivery of the Fund in terms of the capacity building support provided to projects
• Assess the effectiveness of approaches to ensuring target groups were reached
• Gather an account of the model and approach taken from the perspectives of partners, projects and users to help inform future funding models

Structure and content of the report

Throughout this report, the term 'community supports' is used to describe the wide range of support, activities and initiatives that seek to improve people's mental health and wellbeing in the community context.This term is used to differentiate it from the provision within mental health services.

The remainder of this report is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2: Background and Context
• Chapter 3: Findings: Delivery and Management of the Fund
• Chapter 4: Findings: Impact of the Fund
• Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions