Also in the news / Bog bakes, Greens event and more …
A SHETLANDER has praised the service they received from mental health charity Mind Your Head through the distress brief intervention (DBI) programme.
The programme, which was launched in 2016, offers personalised support to people who present to emergency or primary care services in distress.
Shetland launched its DBI service in 2023 and works in conjunction with NHS Shetland and Penumbra, with Mind Your Head supporting over 60 people in distress during that time.
One person who received DBI in Shetland said they previously not felt like they had been helped when presenting at A&E while in severe distress.
However they said after being referred to DBI the support was “so helpful”.
“I finally had someone listen to what I was going through,” they said, adding it had been “life-changing”.
Mind Your Head chief executive Anouska Civico DBI was a “much needed, well utilised service”.
“We are proud that we are able to deliver this on behalf of the Scottish Government in our community, ensuring that anyone is distress gets appropriate and timely support at their time of need.”
SHETLAND Greens are to host the fourth event in their This is Democracy series tomorrow (Friday), focusing on mental health.
Entitled Mental Health/Moving Beyond, the event – at Lerwick Town Hall – will see Glasgow-based activist Lisa Fannen discuss and challenge ideas around mental health.
The talk and discussion will hear participants’ opinions on how we can better understand and respond to psychological distress.
Fannen, a poet, performer and writer, will speak about ideas from her book Warp and Weft which exposes the overmedicalisation of mental health issues.
Local Green campaigner Alex Armitage said Fannen had personally transformed the way he thought about mental health.
“Many of us struggle psychologically and emotionally at times in our lives and there are important discussions to be had about how we can look after ourselves, both as a community and individually, particularly within the context of the cost of living, social isolation and threats to our environment,” he said.
“Lisa provides some badly needed fresh thinking on this issue and I’m very much looking forward to the talk and discussion.”
The free event will be held at Lerwick Town Hall from 7-9pm on Friday night, with all welcome.
EVER wondered what a bog tastes like?
A new project, launching this weekend, will give people the chance to try a selection of edible artworks based around bogs.
Aidan Nicol and Jenny Watt’s O Da Bog project has seen a range of artists collaborate to try capture the essence of Shetland’s amazing landscapes.
The free, non-ticketed multi-sensory installation at Hymhus in Bigton will use a combination of film, cakes, textiles, stories and smells to bring people into the heart of the bog.
O Da Bog runs from 10am to 2pm daily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
That will be followed by a Bigton bog teas at Hymhus from 2-4pm on Sunday, with bog-inspired cakes appearing alongside stalls and games.
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