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February 16, 2021
Mental health marketplace
Much has been made of the likely long term impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the country but less so about how to respond. And for good reason. No one really knows what to do. The NHS funded mental health services were under severe pressure before the pandemic hit so it is unlikely they will be in a position to respond at scale. Senscot is piloting an idea aimed at matching up social enterprise providers with anchor organisations seeking to access mental health services for their communities. A simple idea that seems to be working.
SENScot, SCHW and CHEX are delighted to be collaborating on this latest Pockets & Prospects Project which seeks to support community organisations address mental health & wellbeing needs within their local community.
Our approach is based on the model developed through a partnership between GSEN & SENScot for the successful Glasgow Pockets & Prospects Project which aimed to tackle loneliness and to mitigate the negative impacts of welfare reform, whilst also connecting and developing social enterprises.
Collaborating in Communities to Improve Mental Health builds upon this valuable learning and will extend the geographical reach to operate at a national level across Scotland. The previous fundamental premise of the project remains, in that community organisations have access to a small budget to purchase activities and services from social enterprises that contribute towards improved mental health. This enables community organisations who understand the needs of their local community to tap into services they may previously have been unaware of or been unable to afford, whilst also supporting social enterprise suppliers.
Even if you’re not participating in the project, we invite you to view the wide range of activities and services offered by over 40 social enterprise suppliers.