Man On! Inverclyde - Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund

"We know that our work prevents suicide in Inverclyde and this funding will only grow our reach to support more people across the community"

CVS Inverclyde administered the first phase of the Scottish Government’s Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing fund in Inverclyde. In total, over £338,000 has been awarded to 20 organisations in Inverclyde who will use the money to fund projects to support mental health and wellbeing in our communities.

We chatted to Chris Paul, CEO of Man On!, about what the fund will mean for their life-saving work.

How important is this fund for your work?

This fund was an important one for us to gain access to given the nature of our work across the spectrum of mental health and wellbeing. This fund will allow us to grow and develop our services to support as much people as possible across Inverclyde. We have been fortunate enough that the Inverclyde community has taken our organisation to the heart of the community and we now know that the funding from this will allow us to continue to transform the lived-experience community support.

What will you use the funding for?

We will be focusing on our new building in Greenock and ensuring that we have the best spaces available to support our members. They have told us that comforting and welcoming spaces help support them and we will follow this by designing specific areas in a trauma-informed manner, ensuring that our Community Hub will be a place that people can be safe and feel supported.

What impact do you think the fund will make for your work and the wider community?

We know that our work prevents suicide in Inverclyde and this funding will only grow our reach to support more people across the community. This is the most important part of our work without doubt, however we will use the fund to build our foundations as an organisation to help battle the stigma attached to mental health. 

In your opinion, how has the pandemic impacted our mental health and the support services helping people.

The pandemic has had a real impact on organisations providing support to people. From a personal level, our organisation grew exponentially during this period of time and we responded to people where they were at, co-producing a community wellbeing plan and driving our mission and aims forward. However, we know that with the doors of other services being closed, it had a real impact on the people of Inverclyde. We are hopeful of a brighter future and key funding like this only strengthens that possibility.

In your opinion, how important is the third sector in supporting mental health in our communities?

We know that the 3rd sector is crucial to supporting mental health and wellbeing. Our lived experience approach combined with our trauma-informed mindset has been a life-saver for some, and we are aware of other key organisations providing essential support too.

Find out more about Man On!'s work on their website.

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