{"id":100381,"date":"2025-08-29T08:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/100381\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T08:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:11:10","slug":"samh-scotlands-first-walk-in-mental-health-hubs-aim-to-cut-waiting-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/100381\/","title":{"rendered":"SAMH: Scotland\u2019s first walk-in mental health hubs aim to cut waiting times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s largest mental health charity has unveiled plans for a \u00a310m network of walk-in support centres.<\/p>\n

The initiative, called The Nook, will create Scotland\u2019s first free mental health hubs, designed to tackle the long waits many face through the NHS.<\/p>\n

For 21-year-old Fatemah Ghanem, who has been living with mental health challenges since childhood, the barriers to accessing support have been overwhelming.<\/p>\n

She told STV News: \u201cI was starting to struggle with my mental health, feeling more withdrawn from people around me, not wanting to engage much, and feeling a lot of low mood.\u201d<\/p>\n

But getting the right help was far from straightforward.<\/p>\n

Fatemah added: \u201cEvery time I felt like I needed support, I felt I wasn\u2019t ready for it because of the barriers of the whole process, like speaking to a GP, going through the referral, and waiting times. I felt that would take years.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly those barriers that SAMH, Scotland\u2019s Association for Mental Health, is hoping to remove.<\/p>\n

Still under construction, The Nook will offer immediate, drop-in support, with no referrals, waiting lists or appointments.<\/p>\n

Judith Deacons, senior product manager at SAMH, said: \u201cRather than having consultation rooms, we are moving away from that clinical language. We\u2019re going to have \u2018snugs\u2019 \u2013 spaces where people can have private one-to-ones with our practitioners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes The Nook different isn\u2019t just that support is free and walk-in, it\u2019s how the space feels. It\u2019s designed to make asking for help less intimidating, so people can step inside, feel safe, and begin their journey to better mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every aspect of the hub, from the colours to furniture, has been chosen to reduce anxiety.<\/p>\n

Designer Finni Porter-Chambers said: \u201cI think it\u2019s really important to think about climate anxiety and we\u2019ve put sustainability as the main focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve used upcycled gym flooring on one end, lots of vintage pieces, just to ensure people\u2019s climate anxiety is reduced. Especially for young people, it\u2019s important to acknowledge that in the design.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAMH says demand for mental health support in parts of Scotland has risen by 700% and that a new approach is urgently needed.<\/p>\n

Billy Watson, CEO of SAMH, said: \u201cMuch of the data we are looking at in terms of the mental health crisis in Scotland is unprecedented, so it\u2019s time for organisations to step up and take action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to do that and take the evidence of providing early and better mental health outcomes back to the government and health boards, who in the long term should look at this model and replicate it everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first Nook hub will open in Glasgow later this year, with more planned across Scotland.<\/p>\n

STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n

Get all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n

Follow STV News <\/a>Follow STV News on WhatsApp<\/p>\n

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s largest mental health charity has unveiled plans for a \u00a310m network of walk-in support centres. The initiative,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,1906,6623,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-100381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}