Walk-in mental health hub expecting busy winter after welcoming 1,000th visitor

A walk-in mental health centre is anticipating it will “remain busy” over the winter after it reached the 1,000 visitor milestone before Christmas.

The Nook in Glasgow opened in October as the first of a Scotland-wide network of walk-in mental health hubs.

The hubs, run by Scottish Action for Mental Health, offer access to support without bookings, referrals or waiting lists.

The Glasgow site is set to be followed by hubs in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverclyde and Lanarkshire over the next three years.

It welcomed its 1,000th visitor during the weekend of December 13.

Mhairi Adamson, community engagement officer at The Nook in Glasgow, said passing the milestone was “incredible”.

Describing the reaction of those using the service, she continued: “Just overwhelmingly positive, people feeling very welcome in the space, saying that they feel like they’re coming in and feeling valued.

“Coming away from some of the sessions with our practitioners feeling relieved, feeling lighter having had these conversations.”

The space offers cognitive behavioural coaching, which is a therapy that focuses on problem solving and developing coping skills.

It also runs a Listen and Link service which aims to link people to other organisations if they are facing issues such as homelessness, domestic violence, or are refugees.

Since the hub has only been open for a matter of months, the team are unsure what to anticipate over the winter period, but they are expecting to be busy.

Ms Adamson said: “It’s a brand new service, it’s difficult to know. But we know that the Christmas (and) new year period can be very, very difficult for people and a lot of services do close over that period as well.

“We do anticipate that it’ll remain as busy as it has been, if not busier.”

The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland published a report in June outlining increasing mental ill health in Scotland.

It said the percentage of people reporting mental health conditions more than doubled – with a six-fold increase among young people – between the censuses of 2011 and 2022.

Ms Adamson said: “The Nook has been developed in response to the mental health crisis that we know is happening across Scotland.

“At the moment, we know that the demand for services are far outweighing the support that’s available, and so often that support is behind complicated referrals or long wait lists.

“When people do get that support it’s often very good, very effective. But it can take a long, long time for people to get that.

“We want to ensure that people can come along here and ask for help once and get it fast, so that they’re not sat on these wait lists for many months, a couple of years, through which their mental health is declining.”

Ms Adamson also urged people to try and practice “self-compassion” over winter.

She said: “We need to understand that this time of year can be really difficult for people. The dark nights, the bad weather, Christmas can be a really difficult time, as well as all of the social activities that come from that.

“I think it’s also really important that people practice a bit of self-compassion and give themselves some grace and understand that it’s okay to feel a bit down or feel a bit overwhelmed.”

The Nook will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, January 1 and 2, but will be available seven days a week throughout the rest of the season.