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The ALLIANCE Humans of Scotland project review activities in 2020

  • Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 19th January 2021

Humans of Scotland, sharing seldom heard voices during COVID-19.

Humans of Scotland began 2020 with its usual programme, running a variety of stories. As the weeks passed however, we were beginning to enter the COVID-19 period. The impacts on our lives were beginning to be felt and as the UK lockdown began, we responded by focusing Humans of Scotland on COVID-19.

During the first lockdown and beyond we published 52 stories detailing how those with long term conditions, disabled people and unpaid carers were impacted by events. People telling their stories were disproportionately affected by lockdown rules. Many were shielding and struggled to get basic necessities, unpaid carers found their caring responsibilities increase rapidly as services closed and people’s mental health was greatly impacted upon.

In addition to these stories we ran a mini-series on allied health professionals and their work on the frontline in our hospitals across the country. We heard from physiotherapists in ICU, research nurses, arts and music therapists and an occupational therapist, all of whom were making immensely valuable contributions to the lives of those they work with.

Later in the year Humans of Scotland worked with the reducing gambling harms team at the ALLIANCE to produce a series on this topic, running 6 individual stories. Each story detailed unique experiences with gambling and recovery, outlining how problem gambling affects relationships, family, working life, finances and ultimately mental health. The stories put a spotlight on a growing problem in society and gave people who had lived experience of gambling harms an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on changes that could be made to better support people.

During Self Management week 2020 Humans of Scotland put a focus on nominees for our Individual Transformational Story of the Year award. These stories highlight the power of self management including self managing arthritis, chronic pain and addiction and mental health recovery.

As the year drew to a close we continued to share stories from a wide range of people and started to plan for the year ahead in 2021. Humans of Scotland continues to prioritise the voice of lived experience, giving a platform to those whose voices deserve to be heard.

Reports of other ALLIANCE programme activities during 2020 can be found in our News section.

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