‘When we talk about mental health, we’re talking about our mental well-being: our emotions, our thoughts and our feelings, our ability to solve problems and overcome difficulties, our social connections, and our understanding of the world around us.’ (CMHA, 2019)

 

One in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life. However, despite the high number of us affected, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health including self-stigma, prejudice and discrimination.

No one should ever feel ashamed or embarrassed to tell anyone that they experience mental health issues. The best way to break down stigma is to talk about it – by speaking up we can change attitudes and lives.

BOHO, the Conference Partner of the Scotland Development Conference, understand the important role that they can play to help break down stigma. They endeavour to raise awareness, encourage conversations and make the safety and wellbeing of their residents their number one priority.

To achieve this, from the offset they conduct research into their buildings and who is going to live there. The staffing model is then created based on this, always with residents in mind and what works best for those living in that building. [emaillocker id=”71749″]

For example, they don’t believe in adopting the traditional student accommodation staff model where the core team work Monday to Friday 8am-6pm and rely on an outsourced security company to cover evenings and weekends. They believe this is when people are more likely to feel alone or vulnerable and having their team there to be a friendly face to talk to is important.

Their Scotway House staff will receive training on first aid, mental health first aid and suicide prevention. They will be available Monday to Friday 24hrs with Saturday and Sunday also having a staff presence. These additional hours are also valuable for customer service and putting on fun social events to ensure they deliver a fantastic student experience.

They will soon be recruiting for Night Managers and full-time/part-time Student Experience Advisors for Scotway House in Glasgow. They are looking for compassionate, creative, enthusiastic and dynamic people from all walks of life, industries and skill-sets to look after their residents and bring their properties to life. [/emaillocker]