Community organisations delivering preventative approaches to mental health support
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 29th October
SCDC recently published a joint statement setting out the urgent action required if we're to support preventative approaches to tackling Scotland’s health inequalities crisis.
Published jointly by Edinburgh Community Health Forum, The Alliance, SCDC & CHEX, and Voluntary Health Scotland, this joint statement comes as major policies and frameworks have set out prevention as a key approach to how public services should operate.
With this positive direction, we also know the challenges of delivering these approaches on the ground are significant. One area organisations are facing pressure is community-led mental health support where strained services and reduced funding make it difficult for organisations to offer this valuable support.
What’s clear is that these using these preventative approaches - which stop problems happening in the first place - allows people to feel more connected, valued, and helps tackle the root causes of poor mental health.
Often acting as the first port of call, the support community-led health organisations provide is holistic, recognising that people's mental health is supported across a range of areas in their lives.
One manager of a community-led health organisation recently told CHEX: "There's something about being community-based, being trusted, being known, that makes it easier for people to approach us, to engage with us. And referrers are confident about what will be available."
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