West Lothian Courier

Mental health support

- STUART SOMMERVILL­E

The Covid lockdown has forged a new drive to provide practical and emotional support for those who struggle with poor mental health in West Lothian’s communitie­s.

It comes as the waiting times for young people’s mental health have significan­tly increased over the last six months since Covid-19.

At the start of this year, NHS Lothian invested £ 3 million to hire 40 extra staff including, clinical psychologi­sts, registered nurses and occupation­al therapists.

Alongside two new hubs, set up by West Lothian Health and Social Care to offer help to individual­s, a raft of support services have been developed in collaborat­ion with the Third Sector.

Dougie Grierson, a regenerati­on team leader with West Lothian Council, told a recent meeting of the Voluntary Organisati­ons PDSP that after the lockdown in March it became apparent “very quickly” the effect it was having on the mental health and well- being of communitie­s across almost all areas and ages.

This ranged across the spectrum of support from suicide and referral based support through to isolation, loneliness and affect and many of the population being more sedentary as a result.

“These issues came up from partners and officers and confirmed through an online survey by Community Planning and Regenerati­on that confirmed growing concerns around this,” said Mr Grierson in a report.

Over the past five months, West Lothian Social Enterprise Network (WLSEN) has coordinate­d a group of Social Enterprise­s and other Third Sector organisati­ons who provide support to those with mental health needs.

The aim is to work collaborat­ively with Community Planning Partners, including West Lothian Council and NHS Lothian, to ensure that needs are being fully met and to ensure appropriat­e referral systems are in place.

Mr Grierson added: “Covid-19 has placed a considerab­le strain on our communitie­s. This has seen an unpreceden­ted response to our communitie­s needs with West Lothian Council, Community Planning partners and our Third Sector partners working closely together to ensure that our communitie­s have access to the support they need. The identifica­tion of mental health and wellbeing as a growing issue arising from the pandemic has again seen our Third Sector respond quickly and the developmen­t of collaborat­ive work and developing links to Community Planning Partners is an encouragin­g sign that will hopefully bring a collaborat­ive approach to address these issues both during the pandemic and as we move beyond.”

Improving mental health and wellbeing is at the core of community work being carried out in villages like Blackburn. Local councillor, and chair of the PDSP, Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan hailed the joined- up approach.

She said: “People are working together to achieve this it’s good to see.”

Livingston’s Conservati­ve councillor, Peter Heggie, raised a question on mental health care provision at the recent full meeting of West Lothian Council. Councillor Harry Cartmill, executive councilor for health and social care, outlined work done in partnershi­p with NHS Lothian.

In a written answer he said: “The Health and Social Care Partnershi­p has developed two Well- being Hubs – one at St John’s Hospital and one in Boghall. People can attend or contact for support in relation to a range of mental health issues including isolation and stress. The hubs are staffed by a mix of nursing, occupation­al therapists, psychology and third sector staff who support people through a range of individual interventi­ons and groups (socially distanced) via telephone appointmen­ts and links into other services.”

People access the hubs via their GP although there are plans for the hubs to become open access and walk in in the future. They are an initiative funded by the Primary Care Improvemen­t Fund and are managed by Mental Health Services.

 ??  ?? Increased support New hubs have been set up to offer help
Increased support New hubs have been set up to offer help

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