In the five-year period covered by the evaluation report, there has been an ever-increasing interest in mental health and the emergency services, reflected in the activities of the blue light charities, the Royal Foundation and the Inspectorates of Constabulary and Fire in Scotland.
We think of the Lifelines team as small but mighty. At peak staffing we had the equivalent of three wholetime trainers working across ambulance, fire, police, and the volunteer responder organisations.
The report shows what can be achieved with a limited resource if you have passion and a commitment to partnership working across the public sector.
There is so much to celebrate. Almost 2000 Lifelines peer supporters and more than 100 Lifelines Facilitators who are delivering the courses internally, helping even more people understand how to look after themselves and their colleagues.
All new recruits to ambulance, fire, and police now begin their career with training on how they can stay well in a challenging role and a few months ago, we extended our partnership to the Scottish prison service.
The report provides evidence of the progress we have made towards achieving our objectives listed below.
To ensure Lifelines Scotland stays at the forefront of best practice, the report concludes with the following recommendations...
It is essential we secure continued funding and gain maximum benefit and value from the public money and people hours invested over the last 5 years, and avoid re-inventing a (potentially less effective) wheel.
We need to build on the success of the Lifelines project and promote it as an example of effective public sector partnership.
