We believe that good mental health should be a priority for each and every one of us and our vision is of a Scotland, free from stigma and inequality, where everyone fulfils their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible.
We want to ensure we're a country where everyone can talk about their mental health in a safe and judgement-free environment.
General adult mental health
Funding adult mental health support
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults was established in 2021 and since then, we have provided £66 million to organisations across Scotland, with over 4,700 grants made to local projects over the first three years. These groups range from craft groups to cookery classes to nature activities for people over the age of 16.
To find out more about mental health and wellbeing community support, you can visit your local Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisation website, or you can visit ALISS (A Local Information Service for Scotland), which contains information on services, groups and activities for health and wellbeing across Scotland.
Find out more about ALISS (aliss.org)
Mind to Mind
We know that face-to-face support is not for everyone, which is why we launched Mind to Mind in 2022. The site has advice from people with lived experience of mental health and wellbeing challenges such as anxiety, panic and low mood and highlights the practical things people can do to help them improve their wellbeing and resilience. Those who need additional or urgent support are signposted to the appropriate helplines and resources.
Find out more about Mind to Mind (nhsinform.scot)
The Changing Room and Extra Time Programmes
Due to stigma, men can often struggle to engage with conversations about their mental health. The Changing Room and The Changing Room: Extra Time programmes, delivered by SAMH, aim to bring men together through the power of football and provide a safe space for them to speak about their mental wellbeing and explore areas which are giving them particular challenges or concerns.
The programmes focus on three key areas:
- Life satisfaction
- Mental wellbeing
- Social support
Find out more about The Changing Room (samh.org.uk)
Workplace
We know that creating workplaces which support and promote good mental health benefits both individuals and employers. The Supporting a Mentally Healthy Working Lives website signposts employers to a wide range of free mental health and wellbeing resources and information.
Find out more about supporting a mentally healthy workplace (healthyworkinglives.scot)
It includes:
- Sources of support and advice on understanding mental health
- Mental health and the law and staff learning and development opportunities
- Advice on how to build organisational culture to support mentally healthy workplaces
- Contact details for crisis support services along with wider support services that can help to support mental wellbeing
Children and families mental health
Community mental health
Community-based mental health support for children, young people and their families is available in every local authority area. Counselling services in secondary schools are available to all children and young people aged 10 years and over.
Digital support
Many children and young people prefer to consume information digitally, and the Scottish Government has funded two digital platforms to assist them with their mental health.
Mind Yer Time gives children and young people advice on social media use, screen time, sleep and the impacts of these things on body image and mental wellbeing.
Aye Feel hosts a suite of resources, information and advice to support the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Parent Club provides a range of advice for parents and carers on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their children and families, including information for parents of teenage children.
Find out more about Parent Club (parentclub.scot)
Find out more about Mind Yer Time (mindyertime.scot)
Find out more about Aye Feel (young.scot)
Find out more about Community based mental health support (digitallearningmap.nhs.scot)
New mothers
Pregnancy and the arrival of a new baby should be the most joyful and exciting time for any new mum, but sadly around one in five will develop a mental illness during pregnancy or in the first year after birth.
The Scottish Government is working to improve mental health support for parents, infants and families across the country, including providing £1.5 million for third sector organisations from October 2024 to March 2026.
In addition, the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund has provided peer support, counselling and befriending to over 16,200 parents, expectant parents and infants since 2020.
Distress
Suicide Prevention
We know supporting people to talk openly about suicide saves lives. Suicide Prevention Scotland’s website aims to reduce stigma and support anyone at risk of or affected by suicide. The webpage signposts to high-quality resources, tools and contacts for anyone affected by suicide, according to their needs.
Find out more about Suicide Prevention Scotland (suicideprevention.scot)
Peer support work is also being delivered in communities across Scotland. The Scottish Recovery Network continues its Creating Hope with Peer Support project across Scotland, co-designing peer support training with a range of community-based suicide prevention groups and services.
Find out more about Creating Hope With Peer Support (scottishrecovery.net)
In addition to the above, our ongoing national suicide prevention awareness campaign ‘whatif?' explores the effects of stigma and whether a conversation about suicide could save lives.
Find out more about Whatif? (suicideprevention.scot)
Self-Harm
Self-Harm Network Scotland offers accessible advice, information and training for anyone across Scotland affected by self-harm. This includes self-referral for free peer practitioner support for anyone aged 12 and over. There is also a confidential live chat available seven days a week between 6pm and 10pm for immediate support.
Find out more about Self-Harm network Scotland (selfharmnetworkscotland.org.uk)
Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Programme
The Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme is a world-leading service which provides personalised, community-based support to people who present to frontline services (including police, ambulance, primary care and NHS24) in a distressed state, but who do not require urgent clinical intervention.
DBI support can be provided face to face, online or by telephone. Up to the end of April 2025, over 88,000 people have been helped by DBI, and this has in turn helped to reduce pressure on frontline responders.
Find out more about Distress Brief Intervention (dbi.scot)
Stigma
We know how important it is for people to be able to talk openly about their mental health and wellbeing, and to be able to ask for help when they need it. That’s why we have been working with a range of partners to reduce stigma and discrimination across Scotland.
This includes See Me, Scotland’s programme to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination. See Me undertake a range of work to reduce stigma, including recent work with young people, veterans, and minority ethnic communities.
Find out more about support for young people (seemescotland.org)
Find out more about support for veterans (seemescotland.org)
Find out more about support for minority ethnic communities (seemescotland.org)
Neurodiversity
Our Adult Autism Support Fund (£1 million per year) aims to improve the wellbeing of autistic adults in community settings, both before and after diagnosis. A recent evaluation of the fund found that 77% of participants reported feeling more confident about the future, and 66% said that their quality of life had improved.
Different Minds hosts several resources and a directory to help autistic people maintain good mental health through self-advocacy or organised support.
Find out more about Different Minds (differentminds.scot)
Eating disorders
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that can impact anyone regardless of age, gender, or background and have a big impact on physical and emotional health. People with eating disorders have eating behaviours like eating too much or too little regularly. They’ll also spend a lot of time thinking about food and their weight or body shape.