Civic life and mental health is also a key topic for current research. Click here to learn more about ongoing research that the hub is promoting that you can get involved with.
As part of promoting what we do and what we achieved over the last 12 months, we reached out to local MSPs who have a particular interest in mental health and wellbeing. One of these is Maree Todd an MSP for Highlands & Islands who sits on committees such as ‘Health and Sport’ as well as being co-convener for a cross-party group on mental health.
Maree Todd – SNP – Highlands and Islands
May 2016. Pic – Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament
Maree’s background is in mental health services, she was a specialist pharmacist working at New Craigs in Inverness before she decided to get involved in politics.
We were delighted to have her along to for an informal chat with us as a group of Champions and we hoped to learn a bit about civic life from someone with an insight into both that world and the world of mental health.
We had a good turnout of interested Champions with eight of us there to chat with her. We were unsure if party politics (Maree is an SNP member) and the previous week’s vote had prevented other Champions attending, but none got in touch to say this and on the whole party politics played a very small role in our discussion, despite being the main news of that day.
We started out by setting the scene, as we always do at Champion events, by reminding everyone of the group agreement based on CHIME (Connectedness Hope Identity Meaning Empowerment) and several Champions reassured Maree she was not there to be grilled, nor to have demands placed on her to take action on our behalf, but that she was to use the space as we all would – to reflect, share and question the topics of the day.
Maree responded really well to this, her background in mental health and supporting people in their recovery as a compassionate expert, meant that she understood quickly our way of working and embraced the opportunity of a mutual environment. We shared a bit about the hub journey, our strong evaluation report and why we felt that a grassroots peer-led social movement like ours could make a difference.
We heard a bit about Maree and how she got into politics. She explained that, like us, she doesn’t like hierarchy and that she believes the solutions are in the community, but that also, in reality, people do look for leadership and it was this way of thinking that eventually pushed her toward politics. She saw the changes in the NHS and the wider community and wanted to get involved in the independence vote.
We also talked about what it was like to work in the role of an MSP, the fact there are pitfalls, as you would expect, including the pressures of a public life and the travel taking you from your family. However, Maree shared that she was sure she was making a difference and especially hoped to inspire rural young women, hoping that they will see her and hear a local accent, and feel they can do this too. We talked a bit more about getting more women involved in politics and, as most of the Champions there were female, this was an interesting discussion.
Maree impressed on us the importance of taking your skills and share what you have that can help others. That if you don’t, other people who don’t share your values will do it instead. This resonated strongly with the Champions and seemed an inspirational view we could share.
Another topic that resonated with us was the subject of meeting people face to face to understand and explore different viewpoints. Maree said that door stepping was a great way to meet people who don’t think the same.
General Election 2017 – we did talk a bit about this after all this was only a few days after the vote, and it was interesting to hear Maree talk about her party and their take on the electorate. As Maree pointed out it was now down to those who were voted in to work out what the public said with their votes.
Making best use of an MP / MSP – At the end of the meeting, Maree took some time to chat with a couple Champions about personal challenges they were facing and how to create change. She advised not being afraid on large issues to use pressure from the community to try to influence decision making. She gave examples in terms of community members in Shetland being supported to stay when the home office tried to remove them, but also made it clear these issues were not devolved at this time and it was our new MP that we needed to have support from and to advocate for us.
At the end of our time together Maree offered her support to us as individuals and the hub and reminded us of her passion for human rights being upheld in politics. She also thanked us for creating a very different space for her, we could see it had given her an opportunity where she was much less pressured and more able to be relaxed as a fellow human being.
Reflection from one Champion, “Maree Todd was very sympathetic, a useful contact and a potential friend.”
