A Message from the Editor,

Sonia Last 📝

Well summer has rolled out her green carpet in spectacular style and threatens to overwhelm our senses with exuberance and joie de vivre. How lucky we are to experience these exhilarating days, which like the full moon, can only be experienced a finite number of times. Whether you are in Cornwall or Aberdeen, Llandudno or on the Emerald Isle, we wish you time to revel in the natural world to play, adventure or just watch. It’s all yours for the taking.

Sonia

Sonia Last

Editor

Shared Resources and Signposting

Whatever someone needs, whether that's counselling, advice, a peer group, or financial or social support, having somewhere to point them makes all the difference. There are two ways to reach our resources and signposting, depending on where you are with us.

Free for everyone
Create a free account and you'll get a selection of our resources and signposting to use with the people you support.

Click here to sign up for FREE

For our Mental Health First Aid learners
If you've trained with us, your course includes the full Resource Library: our regularly refreshed collection of organisations, charities, tools, guides, videos and lessons, from running peer-group meetings to tackling work-related stress. Just log in to your course to explore it.

If you know a good organisation, link or app we should add, send it to [email protected] and we'll consider it for the library.

Devolved Government Strategies

Scotland's Mental Health Strategy aims to improve accessibility of mental health services by tackling the root causes, improving neurodevelopmental and crisis care support, improving care pathways and reducing stigma. The decade long plan is set out in Scotland's Population Health Framework 2025 - 2035.

Front line workers, clinicians and mental health experts in England are being asked to contribute evidence to shape the Government's new Mental Health Strategy. Workplaces will be on the front line of this initiative, focussing on prevention and early intervention.

In Wales, the systemic changes and improvement needed are outlined in The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Wales 2025 - 2035.

The Northern Ireland Mental Health Strategy 2026 - 2029 focusses on gaps and deliverability.

The UNICEF Innocent Report Card 20 Unequal Chances:

The UNICEF Innocent Report Card - 20 Unequal Chances (Children and economic inequality) ranked Britain 24th for child wellbeing, 28th for mental wellbeing, 35th for income inequality and 25th for child poverty among wealthy countries. (Amelia Hill, The Guardian, Friday 15 May 2026).

Whatever your politics, this is a shameful picture of ‘modern Britain', even as we try as individuals to do our best our economy and social establishment is warped out of shape by forces unseen but becoming better understood. Inequality poisons our lives and is totally preventable. Sharp political teeth are needed to see off the scavengers who are stalking our children’s lives.

Selfcare Matters - Friendship

Most of us know how precious and delightful friendships can be and are deeply grateful of their presence in our lives. Part-time friends, good enough friends and pleasant acquaintances are good to have too. Sometimes friendships happen in an instant while others are a long, slow burn. It doesn’t matter how they start, but rather how they proceed.

It is said that to make a friend, you first have to be one. It’s also never too late to make new friends and renew your social circle, because the longer we live the more friends we lose for all sorts of reasons. It helps to remember that the world is full of people looking to make connections just as we are.

Instead of trying to replicate lifetime friendships, rather meet people as you find them and forget the idea that age, gender, nationality, ethnicity or status is a basis for friendship. Laughter, curiosity, kindness and trust are much better ingredients, so although it requires effort to make new friends, you only need one or two lovely new soul to completely enhance your life.

Favourite Quote:

‘‘Courage is not an absence of fear – it’s fear walking.

Learn to walk with fear in one hand and courage in the other."

Psychologist, Dr. Susan David

If you read last month's newsletter, you'll be happy to see the cygnets are really coming along!

As the cygnets grow bolder on the water and the long days stretch a little further each week, it feels like the right moment to pause and take stock of how far we've all come too. Whatever shape your summer takes - busy or quiet, sociable or solitary - we hope you find pockets of light in it, and perhaps a friendly face or two along the way.

Until next month, take care of yourselves and each other.

Warm wishes,

Sonia and the MHScot Team

www.mentalhealthscot.land