Our Public Mental Health Programme has four main functions:
The focus of the public mental health team is coordinated through key work programmes.
Our Health Improvement work on the Wider Social Determinants of Mental Health focuses upstream to influence the ‘building blocks’ of mental health, the unfair differences in income, wealth and power that are important drivers of mental health inequalities in Scotland.
The programme works with stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of these complex relationships, identify levers and intervention points that can effect change across the system and have the greatest impact on mental health and mental health inequalities.
Having built a broader mental health systems map, the Team are developing targeted systems maps that examine the transition from school to employment to improve mental health outcomes for those groups experiencing significant challenges within this critical phase of life.
Find wider social determinants of mental health
Our suicide prevention programme leads Public Health Scotland’s role as a key strategic and delivery partner in Scotland’s national suicide prevention strategy and action plan. This seeks to tackle the inequalities that can lead people to attempt or take their own lives.
The work includes improving, collecting and sharing suicide prevention data, supporting policy development, providing guidance and support to local suicide prevention partnerships, developing and facilitating access to training and learning programs, outcomes focused planning and advocating the monitoring and evaluation of suicide prevention activities.
Our work developing the Mentally Flourishing Workplaces Framework incorporates a collaborative, co-production approach that supports organisations to create mentally flourishing workplaces for their employees. Further information is available from the PHS Healthy Working Lives website.
This work involves working in partnership with NHS Education Scotland (NES) to develop learning resources such as Ask Tell and Respond to increase people's confidence to have supportive conversations on mental health and suicide.
PHS also coordinates and distributes other learning resources such as LivingWorks, safeTALK, and ASIST (Applied Suicide Interventions Skills Training), which are delivered by external trainers through an independent trainer network.
Find mental health and suicide prevention learning resources