Angus Mental Health and Wellbeing Network (AMAHWN) and Voluntary Action Angus (VAA) are working together to promote Mental Health Awareness Week (9 – 15th May, 2022). In Angus, we are promoting a range of activities and events that are taking place throughout the week. For more information about what’s on in your area please follow the link: What’s on – Mental Health Awareness Week
We are also highlighting the fantastic work that our partners are involved with and improvements that have been made to mental health and wellbeing services in Angus.
An example of this is the Brechin Buccaneers and a band of local volunteers. In November 2020 they handed out around 70 care packages to older people within the community to lift their spirits and reduce loneliness. The ethos behind the initiative was simply to give people a present, giving the comfort of knowing other people cared and were thinking about them. It also supported a local business during the difficult time of Covid.
The care packages consisted of an afternoon tea, a quiz, information about who the pack was from, a bulb, a cup and soil. With the bulb was a note encouraging them to look after the bulb and themselves. They were also asked to send photos of their bulbs they had grown. The initiative got positive feedback from relatives of the people who received the care packages, with one person replying to the Facebook page:
“My granny was over the moon with her surprise box thank you all x”
Have a look at these Facebook pages for more feedback:
https://www.facebook.com/brechin.buccaneers/posts/2108201709309719
https://www.facebook.com/TheCricketyBrechin/posts/741442319789109
Another example of this is Support in Mind Scotland’s online community resource Clic. Support in Mind Scotland believe that no one needs to be lonely or isolated, and Clic enables support to be available around the clock. By offering online resources and facilitating a safe environment for people to chat peer to peer online, Clic is here to support more people like you to connect and thrive.
To join the online community for everyone’s mental health click on the link below:
https://www.supportinmindscotland.org.uk/clic-join-our-online-community
Did you know?
We have an award-winning Mental Health Hub in Montrose, Brechin and Edzell. In December 2021, the multidisciplinary team were recognised for their work in the Mental Health Nursing Forum Scotland Awards. They won the Community Mental Health Nursing Award and they were joint winners of the Overall Prize. The multidisciplinary team of GPs, mental health, wellbeing and substance services staff work together and offer a single point of access to different types of support, with no referrals rejected and a better pathway of care for patients. This makes it easier and faster for each person to get the right care, in the right place, at the right time. This model will be rolled out across Angus soon so watch this space for more information.
Did you know?
The Angus Health and Social Care Partnership have invested in additional staff to improve the pathway of care between Community and In-patient Mental Health Services. This means that care is more streamlined and seamless when people move between being cared for at home/in the community and in hospital.