Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy: Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment

3 - Assessment and improvement

The link between social determinants and mental health outcomes is well evidenced, as noted above. Robust engagement with people with lived experience, stakeholders and equalities groups while developing the Strategy, Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan ensured that the actions within had an equalities and rights focus.

Overall the Strategy is relevant to everyone in Scotland and should provide improved mental health outcomes for all. But we recognise that people experience mental health struggles and experience accessing services differently, depending on their circumstances. Therefore we included a distinct inequality action table in the Delivery Plan to help identify inequalities within mental health and help address them.

Core Principles

1 Founded on equality and human rights.

2 Focused on the mental health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities and society, supporting those who are impacted by mental illness.

3 Outcomes-focused.

4 Trauma-informed and trauma-responsive.

5 Based on a 'whole person' approach. This means looking at a person and their wider circumstances (like housing, relationships, physical health, employment etc.), not just their mental health.

6 Driven by data and evidence.

7 Developed and delivered in partnership with partners, stakeholders and the public.

8 Based on a 'no wrong door' approach. This means anyone asking for help with their mental health and wellbeing should be able to access the right support, care and treatment, regardless of where they first request it.

9 Informed by the voice of people with lived experience and practitioners, including marginalised groups, children and young people.

10 Based on a 'life stage' approach. This means it is focused on prevention, early detection, recovery and treatment of mental illness and poor mental wellbeing, identifying opportunities for minimising risk factors, enhancing protective factors and providing appropriate support at important life stages.

These principles ensure that people from marginalised groups, including those who live in poverty, are considered in the Strategy and related plans.