Time to talk about stigma
- Written by: Louise Rogers — Development Officer and Grace Beaumont, Development Officer, the ALLIANCE
- Published: 21st February 2023
ALLIANCE staff marked Time to talk day on 2 February with a coffee morning and space to discuss our own mental health and wellbeing.
This year’s “Time to talk day” was held on 2 February this year and ALLIANCE staff held a Coffee Morning to give everyone a dedicated chance to discuss their mental health and what helps keep them well. Hot drinks, snacks, colouring and AMAZING brownies were the order of the day but most important was time away from desks for non-work chats, and openness about the challenges we all face.
A pledge wall was also established with colleagues from across the ALLIANCE sharing some of their commitments to themselves and each other, such as the ones below.
“Ask people how they are…twice”
“It helps me to open up if someone is warm, smiles, and has open body language and asks Q’s not just talking about them”
“Be open about my own challenges”
The Coffee Morning was organised by the ALLIANCE’s internal Stigma Working Group, which was set up a couple of years ago by the Self Management Team, Scotland Reducing Gambling Harms and Health and Social Care Academy programmes to work jointly on the issue of stigma, a recurring theme across all three programmes, as well as the wider work of the ALLIANCE.
Over the past 2 years, the working group has organised events around the theme ‘Reducing Stigma, Emphasising Humanity,’ culminating in the publication of the report “Awareness must lead to action” which outlines recommendations to address stigma across society. The full report is linked below.
Going forward, the stigma working group aims to address and take forward the report recommendations across the ALLIANCE, bringing in the wider teams and embedding this in our work and our lives. Time to Talk day 2023 was a lovely opportunity to bring together some of these aims and make space to bring our authentic selves to work.
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