News: New Research Highlights Mental Ill Health Issues In Rural Scotland

Last year, little was known about how people with mental ill health across rural Scotland experience their day to day lives. In August and September 2016, Support in Mind Scotland joined forces with Scotland’s Rural College to carry out a survey which asked people who experience mental ill health what it’s like living in rural Scotland today. Hundreds of people responded from Galloway to Stornaway and Berwick to Lerwick. This survey, for the first time, gave people a voice.

Connecting people in their communities is something that the new National Rural Mental Health Forum is seeking to do. Jim Hume, the convenor/manager of the Forum for Support in Mind Scotland, says:

“Mental ill health can be prevented and can be treated, especially with early intervention. The Forum and its members are keen to take action by raising awareness in rural communities and normalising talking about mental ill health.”

The full survey report is available from SRUC’s Rural Policy Centre . For further questions about the survey findings, please contact Professor Sarah Skerratt.