Funding secured to enhance mental health and wellbeing

Published 6 February 2020

Highland and Islands Division has secured funding for a three-year mental health and wellbeing project to benefit our officers and staff. The funding, from Police Care UK’s 1in4 Fund, has enabled us to employ a project officer to oversee the delivery of a workplace action plan.

It comes as we have also launched a formal partnership with See Me, Scotland’s programme to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination. It acknowledges our commitment to an ambitious programme of change to ensure good practice in relation to mental health & wellbeing is sustained, and that necessary improvements to policies, processes and procedures are made.

Highland and Islands Division enrolled in See Me’s See Me in Work programme in 2018 and is the first organisation in the country to oversee the delivery of the action plan through a dedicated staffing resource. The project officer will implement the division’s proposals to deliver a range of outcomes and learning which it is hoped will be of benefit, locally and nationally, within Police Scotland, and of value to other employers.

Inspector Judy Hill said: “The funding from Police Care UK gives us the opportunity to really tackle the issues around mental health stigma and discrimination, enabling us to lead the way in ensuring that, as an employer, our workplace is a mentally healthy one.

“We recognise that working as a police officer involves trauma as a core part of the job, but we also acknowledge that we must support our own staff to ensure they are mentally well and able to continue to provide a high level of service and response in our communities, both now and in the future.”

#TimeToTalk

Did you know today is ‘Time to Talk’ day? Across the Division we are encouraging our officers and staff to set aside even just 5 minutes with their colleagues to take a break, have a cup of tea and TALK. Choose to talk about mental health and help save lives.