Mental Health Support at NHS 24 and Breathing Space  NHS Inform The NHS online mental health resources include free apps for sleep, anxiety, and stress. They also have guides on:  dealing with low mood, anxiety, phobias, and stress improving your wellbeing where to get help what to do if you or someone else is in distress Breathing Space If you’re struggling with your mental health or need emotional support, you can call Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87. Breathing Space is open: every weekday (from 6pm to 2am) every weekend (from 6pm Friday to 6am Monday) Breathing Space is a free, confidential,
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New research Reveals 11 best Ways to Prevent Common Mental Health Problems The 11 most effective ways for people to protect their mental health are revealed in a guide launched by the Mental Health Foundation. The free guide, Our Best Mental Health Tips is based on the Foundation’s own ground-breaking study on what protects people from common problems such as anxiety and depression. The innovative study on which the new guide is based combined existing evidence about how we can protect our mental health with experts’ views, alongside the opinions of members of the public. Dr Antonis Kousoulis, who led the research
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Disability and Social Justice Project The Legal Services Agency (LSA) is a National Law Centre based in Glasgow, which seeks to address unmet legal needs. As part of this aim, they have recently launched a Disability and Social Justice Project aimed at improving access to justice for disabled people across Scotland. This project is funded for 3 years by the Scottish Government Equality and Human Rights Fund to support and empower disabled people throughout Scotland to enforce their rights, challenge injustice, and reduce the day-to-day discrimination that they face. The project has 5 strands: Access to Legal Advice providing accessible
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Helpline for Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Launches New Materials for British Sign Language Users The national Helpline service has created three new videos for BSL users: What is domestic abuse? What is forced marriage? What you can expect when you contact the Helpline. BSL users can contact the Helpline confidentially using Contact Scotland BSL, Scotland’s national BSL video interpreting service. Zara Gilmour, Helpline Manager, said: “Our Helpline is for everyone in Scotland and we want to make sure that anyone experiencing domestic abuse or forced marriage knows that we are here to speak to them in the language they
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Scams Awareness Fortnight Scams Awareness Fortnight is an annual campaign run by Citizens Advice with the Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP). This year’s campaign took place from 13 – 26 June and was themed on scams and the cost of living crisis. New research by Citizens Advice found that millions more people have been targeted by scammers as the cost of living crisis takes hold. More than three quarters of UK adults said they have been targeted by a scammer this year – a 14% increase compared to this time last year. Citizens Advice has seen a range of different cost-of-living
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Hate Crime Charter at the Pickaquoy Centre: Disability Consultation When: Wednesday 30 March 2022, 1:30 – 3:00pm Where: The Pickaquoy Centre, Muddisdale Road, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1LR Join Disability Equality Scotland at the Pickaquoy Centre in Orkney as we host a disability consultation to discuss experiences of negative behaviours and hate crime in Orkney. You can register for the event here. Following the successful launch of the national Hate Crime Charter with Scotland’s public transport operators, Disability Equality Scotland is working with the Pickaquoy Centre to establish the Charter on their premises. The Charter aims to encourage businesses, transport providers, members of the public and other services to
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Advice Issued About Census Scams as Population Count Gets Underway Scots have been warned not to get caught out by Census scammers as the official count of Scotland’s population begins this week. Advice Direct Scotland, which runs the national consumer advice service consumeradvice.scot, urged people to be aware of the signs of potential fraudsters attempting to gather personal or financial information. The charity said scammers may request money for a fine or fee, or ask for personal financial information like a national insurance number, bank details or debit or credit card details to be provided. It stressed that Scotland’s Census
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Protect Yourself Online with Lead Scotland 21st February – 4th March 2022 Worry about scams and hackers? Need a refresh on what to do to protect yourself? Lead Scotland are hosting two weeks full of FREE webinars with up-to-date advice on how you can stay safe and secure on the internet. Our friendly and knowledgeable tutors will share their top tips in easy-to-understand language that is accessible to all. Topics include: How to Use Passwords How to Protect Yourself Against Online Dangers How to Recognise Online Scams What to do if Something Goes Wrong Online Cyber Resilience Basics for Entrepreneurs How to Stay
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Legal Services Agency – Disability and Social Justice Project The Disability and Social Justice Project has recently been launched by Legal Services Agency to support and empower disabled people living anywhere in Scotland to enforce their rights, challenge injustice and reduce discrimination. The project will cover five key areas of work: Access to Legal Advice  The project will provide accessible and personalised specialist legal advice, advocacy and representation to disabled people. Our legal team will represent people who have suffered discrimination because of their disability and will challenge breaches of Human Rights Law. We will also assist disabled people who
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