Change Mental Health’s Stafford Centre Providing Community and Non-clinical Mental Health Support

That the Parliament acknowledges what it sees as the transformational services provided by the national mental health charity Change Mental Health; notes what is sees as the success of Change Mental Health’s Stafford Centre, in central Edinburgh, which provides a drop-in service for people with mental illness, to help them build supportive networks, and directs individuals to the best person-centred support to enable their recovery; understands that the Stafford Centre delivers change by building resilience to improve skills and confidence in taking steps towards recovery, by providing counselling and advice on welfare rights and by organising creative and wellbeing-focused activities; further understands that Change Mental Health’s research indicates that people with mental illnesses look to be supported, pre-crisis, in their own community, in a non-clinical setting; notes, with concern, reports of research showing that 78% of general practitioners surveyed reported prescribing anti-depressant drugs, despite belief that an alternative treatment would be more suitable, and believes that Scotland requires the establishment, across the country, of more non-clinical services in the community, like the Stafford Centre, to ensure that no one needs to face mental illness alone and that support is tailored to individual needs, helping to promote recovery and tackle underlying risk factors that negatively impact mental health.