Mental health and wellbeing strategy: delivery plan 2023-2025

Priority 1

Tackle mental health stigma and discrimination where it exists and ensure people can talk about their mental health and wellbeing and access the person-centred support they require.

Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6

Challenges and opportunities:

• Stigma and discrimination
• Delivering supports and services
• Primary and community care
• Workforce

Key area of focus

Tackling mental health stigma is foundational if we are to achieve the Vision in our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. We will continue to take a ‘whole-system’ approach to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination at all levels. This includes public, structural and self-stigma. We will encourage people across Scotland to reach out whenever they are struggling with their mental health and to seek help and support if needed.

Over the lifetime of this Delivery Plan, we will work with others to build our understanding and explore what we need to do to tackle stigma and discrimination where it is most experienced. This will include working with people with lived experience, with a particular focus on those with severe and enduring mental illness.

Tackling stigma is one of the priorities for action within our forthcoming Self-Harm Strategy. It is a guiding principle within the implementation of the Suicide Prevention Strategy, Creating Hope Together, and also a key element of the Mental Health Workforce Action Plan. We will continue to build confidence and skills across public services so that the right help and support is always available.

In the longer term, we will take a collaborative and coordinated approach to incorporating anti-stigma and discrimination work across Government. We will also support this within delivery partner organisations, recognising opportunities to build on existing best practice. We will explore wider approaches to tackling mental health stigma, for example, the relationship with other types of stigma such as substance use. We will also explore the potential for other activity, such as national cultural programmes, to support our work.

Outcomes

• The overall mental health and wellbeing of the population is increased and mental health inequalities are reduced.
• People with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing health conditions experience improved quality and length of life, free from stigma and discrimination.
• People have an increased knowledge and understanding of mental health and wellbeing and how to access appropriate support.
• Communities are better equipped to act as a source of support for people’s mental health and wellbeing, championing the eradication of stigma and discrimination and providing a range of opportunities to connect with others.
• We adopt a ‘mental health and wellbeing in all policies’ approach to facilitate cross-policy actions that more effectively address the wide-ranging social, economic and environmental factors that impact people’s mental health and wellbeing, including poverty, stigma, discrimination, and injustice.

Strategic Action 1.1: We will work across government and with key stakeholders to develop a shared responsibility and coordinated action for tackling mental health stigma and discrimination, recognising its cross-cutting nature.

1.1.1 Lead an expert group to identify key cross-cutting actions needed to address stigma and discrimination for those who experience it most, with actions identified by spring 2024.

Lead and Key Partners: Scottish Government See Me and partners across a range of key sectors, such as education, employment and health and social care.

1.1.2 Form an anti-stigma collective to support innovation, share leadership and commitment to take forward the key actions identified by the expert group.

Lead and Key Partners: Scottish Government See Me and partners across a range of key sectors, such as education, employment and health and social care.

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.

Lead and Key Partners: Scottish Government Scottish Association of Mental Health (SAMH)

1.1.4 Throughout the lifespan of this Delivery Plan, work with key partners and people with lived experience of complex mental health problems and illness to address the stigma experienced in healthcare, education and workplaces and influence improvement in the other settings identified in the Scottish Mental Illness Stigma Study.

Lead and Key Partners: Scottish Government See Me and partners across a range of key sectors, such as education, employment, and health and social care.

1.1.5 Throughout the lifespan of this Delivery Plan, improve our understanding of how mental health stigma is experienced by communities who have been marginalised due to systems and structures in Scotland, and work in partnership to take forward targeted and focused actions to address it.

Lead and Key Partners: Scottish Government See Me, Diverse Experiences Advisory Panel