Samaritans Scotland's winter 2021/22 update

The third Monday in January is sometimes referred to as ‘the most difficult day of the year’ but at Samaritans we know that we all have our good and bad days and those aren’t for the calendar to decide. That’s why we encouraged people to swap out ‘Blue Monday’ for ‘Brew Monday’ and start a conversation over a cuppa with friends, family, colleagues and loved ones.

The campaign was highlighted in the Scottish Parliament by the Minister for Mental Wellbeing, Kevin Stewart MSP, and got both national and local media coverage.

Our 2021 Christmas campaign reminded the public that just like any other day, Samaritans are there for anyone struggling over the festive season. We also shared the story of Paul, from Edinburgh, who called Samaritans during a low point in his life, sought help and is now able to spend Christmas with loved ones.

To ensure that our volunteers could be there this Christmas to listen to people like Paul, we encouraged the public to become a Samaritans Christmas start and donate. Last year our volunteers answered 13,245 calls over the festive season and thanks to the kind donations of our supporters, they were again able to be that listening ear to people struggling this year.

You can read Paul’s full story on our website here.

Over the past months we’ve been engaging with our volunteer base and individuals with lived experience, to inform our response to the Scottish Government’s new suicide strategy consultation. We have now submitted our response and look forward to next steps of engagement on the strategy, aiming to improve support and reduce deaths by suicide in Scotland.

You can read the full consultation response here.

In December, Samaritans published its new research report looking at the impact of economic disruption through the coronavirus pandemic on the mental wellbeing of young adults living and working across the UK.

The “Impact of Economic Disruption on Young Adults” also considers how we can help young adults experiencing disruption feel better supported to limit the impact on their mental health and wellbeing.

You can read the full report and recommendations here.

We ran a series of online engagement sessions, in partnership with Public Health Scotland, Scottish Government, COSLA and Police Scotland to explore challenges and opportunities for prevention at ‘locations of concern’. A total of 49 people from all over Scotland participated, representing many different sectors including: Samaritans Scotland volunteers, ScotRail and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

The Scottish Government has committed to a strategy and action plan to improve support for people who self-harm. After the Minister for Mental Wellbeing answered our call for a new self-harm strategy in Oct 2021, we’ve met with all political parties to share findings of our research and worked with officials to help shape next steps.

You can read more about our work on self-harm, including research and engagement insights, on our website.