Creating A Neuro-Affirming, Stigma Free Society
Scotland is experiencing a mental health crisis.
The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and difficulties accessing support and treatment are all contributing to people’s worsening mental health. The strain being put on services means that help is often only available when people are at a point of crisis.
The Scottish Greens will create a society where mental wellbeing is promoted and people who experience mental illness can access treatment when they need it. We will create an environment which supports people to be mentally well by ensuring they have access to warm and secure housing, enough money to live on, and fulfilling employment; and by ensuring people with mental illness can access treatment and support.
We will bring down waiting lists by investing in our existing mental health services, recruiting sufficient staff, while also expanding support in the community.
The Scottish Greens want to see parity between mental and physical health and to tackle the persistent stigma around mental illness, suicide and neurodivergence.
We will promote a society where neurodivergence is understood and valued, and where people can access the support they need, where self-diagnosis is accepted, by educating those working in our public services about the needs of neurodivergent people. However, we will also work to reduce waiting lists so those who want a diagnosis can access it: we will establish a national pathway for diagnosis and assessment.
- Introduce legislation to underpin rights and support for people with learning disabilities, autism and neurodivergence.
- Year-on-year real-term increases, over the next Parliament, to mental health expenditure.
- Provide adequate and sustainable funding to Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to ensure community mental health provision can be prioritised and expanded over the next parliamentary term.
- Introduce a network of free walk-in mental health support hubs across Scotland, building on the success of existing projects such as The Nook in Glasgow and Thrive in Edinburgh.
- Roll out dedicated Community Link Work Service to all CAMHS teams in Scotland.
- Increase funding for home-based treatment and inpatient care so no young person is sent far from home or placed in an adult ward due to lack of appropriate local services.
- Establish a national neurodevelopmental pathway which would deliver consistent assessment, diagnostic and postdiagnostic processes across Scotland.
- Adopt a multi-agency approach so the list of professionals able to work as clinical interviewers is expanded.
- Drive down waiting times for ADHD and autism assessments by rolling out a network of community hubs for assessment, diagnosis and post-diagnostic support.
- Introduce mandatory autism and ADHD training for health and social care staff, teachers and other relevant education staff, and police and justice services.
- Ensure that support in education, work and access to social security benefits are not dependent on diagnosis of conditions.
