Our Story

Mind Your Head was created in 2005 following the personal experiences of its founding members. The first money was received from the funeral of a family member who died by suicide in 2004, after many years of suffering from mental health problems.

Mind Your Head was created in 2005 following the personal experiences of its founding members. The first money was received from the funeral of a family member who died by suicide in 2004, after many years of suffering from mental health problems.

Mind Your Head became formally constituted in January 2006 and in June 2007 became a registered charity with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. In 2017 we became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO).

Our first fundraising event was the Round Spiggie Fun Run and Walk which took place in August 2005. Entrants were able to walk or run a 5k or 10k route around the beautiful Spiggie Loch in South Mainland, Shetland. Due to the success of this event, we decided to hold it as our annual fundraising event. The event has grown significantly over the years and in 2013, more than 600 people took part. Of equal importance to the funds raised is the statement that the event makes about mental health, where people are becoming more open about their personal situation and others less frightened by the taboo of mental health.

Milestones

Since our formation, our key achievements have been:

  • 2010: Employed staff to further the work of the Charity
  • 2012: Delivered a range of education initiatives, including Minders, The Secondary School Roadshow and created an information card for young people with advise on mental health and wellbeing
  • 2012: Launched The Promise and delivered ongoing awareness raising collaborations with local partners
  • 2015: Developed and started delivering Grubby Hut Sessions where our staff visit businesses and workplaces to talk to employees about the importance of looking after not only their own mental health, but that of their colleagues'
  • 2016: Launched a series of films that featured three local men who spoke openly about their struggles with their mental health and wellbeing
  • 2017: Launched the Don't Bottle It Up campaign. We visited numerous schools to launch resources based around 4 characters that were designed to "normalise" mental health and encourage people to talk about how they are feeling
  • 2017: Launched the Wellness Programme and Wellness Together Programme, supporting people who are 18yo and above towards improving their mental health and wellbeing
  • 2018: Launched and facilitated the Wellness Cafe with Voluntary Action Shetland
  • 2019: Developed and launched a range of self-care materials and a self-care pack, the Feel Good Bag
  • 2019: Launched the new Mind Your Head website and expanded our social media channels to include Instagram
  • 2020: Launched the Children's Feel Good Bag
  • 2021: Worked with Farm Safety Foundation who ran a campaign called Mind Your Head aimed at famers to encourage them to look after themselves and take some time out of their busy schedule and focus on self-care.
  • 2021: Launched Wellbeing 1000, a service offering support for parents/guardians of children up to the age of 2 and a half years old
  • 2021: Started offering self-directed support to people in receipt of direct payments
  • 2021: Collaborated with Shetland Islands Council Youth Services to develop and deliver a self-care session to 1400 secondary school students
  • 2022: Launched Well Youth supporting children and young people 10-25 years old to help improve their mental health and wellbeing
  • 2023: Launched Distress Brief Intervention Service in conjunction with NHS Shetland, Scottish Government & Penumbra

Our Vision

We want Shetland to be a place where:

  • Mental health is supported positively within the community
  • Information and knowledge of support services is easily accessible
  • People do not feel isolated because of mental illness
  • Negative attitudes are replaced with understanding and acceptance

Aims

The work of Mind Your Head is underpinned by a number of key aims:

  • To deliver mental health support services across Shetland
  • To research and respond to mental health and associated needs within the community
  • To work in partnership with existing organisations to further the aims of the charity
  • To raise mental health and wellbeing awareness in Shetland

Our Thanks

We would like to thank the following:

  • The Shetland Community — for your amazing generosity both in finance and in time given
  • The Shetland Charitable Trust
  • The National Lottery Community Fund
  • NB Communication
  • TL Dallas
  • Bon Accord

And everyone else we work closely with.

To find out more about our work please look at our Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts.