Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Ex-Scotland footballer aiming to be a mental health game changer
GAIL Penman is one of the chosen few who has pulled on the dark blue of Scotland and faced off in a football match against England.
And after 25 years in her other job – mental health support – she is leading a different kind of team in wellbeing provision in Tayside and the north-east.
She noticed an “obvious gap” in access to mental health care, and started her company NEWSolutions to counteract it.
Gail said: “I have a strong belief in ‘getting up-river’ of the problem – the late Desmond Tutu advised we need to stop people falling in the river, not just be good at hauling them out.
“This spurred me to start North East Wellbeing Solutions CIC (trading as NEWSolutions CIC) as a community interest company to support these people, as well as businesses, by building resilience and promoting awareness of mental health and wellbeing.”
Asked to name her greatest achievement, Gail picks completing her MSc in Children and
Young People’s Mental Health and Psychological Therapies at Edinburgh University in 2014.
“I’m also very proud of having co-developed a portable screen so I could safely continue essential face-to-face work with patients during Covid restrictions (you can’t see everything on a video call),” she said. “I also devised ‘sensory path’ mats which allow teachers to help pupils who have become ‘dysregulated’ and unable to learn, be able to re-engage with what’s being taught. They’re helping scores of pupils in Angus primaries.
“Away from work, I’ve represented Scotland at football three times between 1979 and 1983, including playing against Hope Powell (the former England women’s football manager).
“It’s true that the moment you pull on the shirt you’re bursting with pride. But as a newbie in the squad, I was also trying hard to act cool about it. An ankle injury ultimately curtailed my football career opportunities.”