People across North east join in the conversation on mental health

Workplaces, schools and community groups across the north-east joined the UK’s biggest conversation on mental health stigma on Thursday, February 2 as part of Time to Talk Day.

Organisers of Stonehaven's event for Time to Talk Day

Time to Talk Day is a day where friends, families, communities, and workplaces can come together to talk, listen and change lives. The campaign helps break down barriers and reduce the stigma which prevents so many from asking for help when they need it.

Despite increased awareness of mental health in Scotland, research released to mark this year’s Time to Talk Day showed that the campaign is still needed. A poll of over 1000 Scots showed that three in five think the cost of living crisis has had an impact on their mental health, but a third admitted that they never make space in their day to talk about mental health.

When asked what makes it difficult to talk about mental health, respondents to the survey said not wanting to ‘bother people’ as there are ‘bigger issues’, worrying about being judged and not knowing how to bring it up were all reasons people find it difficult to start a conversation. See Me, the national programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination, in partnership with Co-op, led the campaign in Scotland.

Mhairi McCall performing spoken word at See Me's Time to Talk Day event

After two years of online activity, this year’s Time to Talk Day saw a range of activities and events take place across the north-east, with workplaces, schools, community groups, sports clubs, friends and family joining in to get as many people as possible talking about mental health.

In Stonehaven, See Me volunteers Dawn Getliffe and Elaine Simpson worked with local mental health organisation Pillar Kincardine, to bring the community together to Walk a Mile. People were paired up to discuss what mental health means to them while they undertook a mile-long walk.

After the walk, Pillar had coffee, tea and biscuits on offer inside St James’ church.

Elaine said: “It was great to see everyone turn out to talk about mental health. It’s an important conversation to start and seeing the community get together was one of the highlights.”

SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) also hosted suicide prevention stalls at Live Life Aberdeenshire facilities in Laurencekirk.

See Me volunteer spokesperson Tommy Kelly says that campaigns like Time to Talk Day have an important role to play for people across Scotland.

He said: “Talking openly about mental health is really important. I believe it really encourages people to be open about their feelings and let them know they aren’t alone. It can be the biggest thing to encourage them to take that first step and get the help they need.

“Speaking about your mental health creates supportive communities, breaks down barriers and it goes a long way to breaking down the stigma and discrimination that people struggle with every day.

“The thing I would say to people to help them listen when people are speaking about their mental health is just to validate the person – listen to them, let them know that you understand and that it is okay, and it is a safe space, you aren’t going to judge them in any way. Listen to how they’re feeling can be a really big thing in itself.”

See Me director Wendy Halliday said: “I have been so impressed all the support we had for this year’s Time to Talk Day across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

“Everyone has mental health, and any one of us can struggle with our mental health at one point or another. It’s also crucial to understand stigma plays a role in opening up about how you’re feeling. We want everyone to feel comfortable talking about mental health in a way that suits them.”

Find out how you can tackle mental health stigma beyond Time to Talk Day at seemescotland.org/SeeUs.