Communities encouraged to back Breathing Space bench
COMMUNITY councils across Shetland are being asked to back a mental health initiative which offers people a place to “take some breathing space”.
Shetland is soon to be the only health board in Scotland without a Breathing Space bench, a community space which encourages folk to take a second to sit, listen and talk if needed.
The benches also display contact details for organisation such as Breathing Space and Samaritans.
Health improvement team leader Nicola Balfour has written to Lerwick Community Council in her capacity as suicide prevention lead to ask if they would consider helping to secure a local bench.
She said Shetland would soon be left behind Orkney and the Western Isles, with one in Orkney to be installed soon.
The decision of a location and the cost of a bench, which is around £1,500, were the “difficult barriers” to creating one, she said.
“I am reaching out to the community councils to ask if there are any communities where a ‘Take some Breathing Space’ bench would be considered and offering support to apply to the community mental health and wellbeing fund to any community groups who would be interested,” Balfour wrote.
“We know that having a bench located in a community where it is wanted and supported would have a greater impact.
“We have heard from individuals in the community as part suicide prevention week in September, that having more visible spaces and awareness of support available isneeded and wanted.
“These benches are a small but impactful way to incorporate awareness and a piece of wellbeing architecture in a community.”
Balfour said she was also working with the Breathing Space team to look at the possible incorporation of their benches at UHI bases.
“If successful in securing any benches, we would support to co-ordinate manufacture and delivery as far as possible [and] aid installation and reduce costs.”
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Breathing Space said the benches create welcoming spaces where people can sit and listen and talk, showing “kindness and compassion” to themselves or others.
It said the initiative was unlike traditional memorial benches, with help-seeking behaviours encouraged through the signposting of mental health services.
It added that the benches embed mental health awareness into the physical landscape of communities and signal that local areas aspire to be mentally healthyenvironments.
The benches are all manufactured by the same company, David Ogilvie Engineering, to ensure they are all made to the same standard and have a cohesive look.
They can take up to six weeks to produce.
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