20 years of See Me

A lot has changed over the last 20 years – attitudes are changing, and people are more willing to talk about mental health and support others too.

Our latest polling has shown that eight in 10 Scots would have the confidence to talk about their own mental health today – compared to just two in ten (22 per cent) 20 years ago.

This is great progress – but we know we’ve got more to do, including working with minority groups and those with experience of severe and enduring mental illness to target the stigma which still exists. Our five-year strategy With Fairness in Mind outlines how we’ll do this with the support of our partners and supporters in the years ahead.

We do still have lots to celebrate from the last two decades. Scroll down to see some of the highlights from the last 20 years of See Me.

In October 2002, 'see me' formed as part of the National Wellbeing Programme. It is originally launched as an awareness campaign for mental health stigma and discrimination.

In our first year, we trained our first media volunteers to share their experiences of mental health stigma and discrimination in the news.

We also won four awards which included the Mental Health Media Award for Best Public Information Campaign.

The 'see me' advert about self-harm and stigma appears on televisions and in cinemas across Scotland.

The 2004 Social Attitudes Survey found that there was a 57% decrease in derogatory terms used by the media, showing that the work of 'see me' was having a direct impact.

The Hear Me national survey of mental health service users and carers explored people’s experience of stigma, their views on how the problem has changed and the impact of the 'see me' campaign.

Over half of all service users and carers felt that ‘see me’ was very important in challenging the stigma of mental ill health.

We took a new approach in 2008 with two campaign strands – a public campaign and stakeholder engagement.

We had a focus on self-stigma, stigma experienced by those with a diagnosis of psychosis, and in medium and high secure care settings.

We also launched a new advert, highlighting the important role that friends can play when someone is struggling with their mental health.

Along with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, GAMH and VOX Scotland, we launched the Beyond Prejudice film that looked at stigma and discrimination among ethnic minority communities in Scotland.

On World Mental Health Day, flash choirs were held by 'see me' in Glasgow and Edinburgh to raise awareness of mental health and get people talking.

2012

We introduced the first What’s on Your Mind activity pack for schools and youth groups.

We had a lot of change in 2014. We rebranded and launched the new See Me website with the new message that See Me now works to change behaviours, not just attitudes.

Our first Community Champions were recruited and trained, and we hosted the ‘See me… now’ conference with stakeholders in Dunblane.

The Local Grant and Community Innovation Fund also launched to support growth of social movement in communities.

The Rights for Life Declaration was launched, and we hosted the Global Anti Stigma Alliance annual event in Glasgow, seeing anti-stigma programmes from across the world visit Scotland.

Stigma Free Lanarkshire was founded to help grow the movement in Lanarkshire and, and we also funded Moray Wellbeing Hub to help develop the movement in Moray.

Our It’s Okay to not be Okay campaign for young people was carried out in November and December.

We launched a new strategy, in which See Me became a complex, multi-layered programme focused on behaviour change and cultural change.

In February, we led Scotland to be part of the first UK-wide Time to Talk Day. See Me champions travelled 700 miles around Scotland in six days, to get conversations started.

We launched our workplace equality fund, engaging 4 private employers.

We also launched FeelsFM, the world’s first emoji-powered jukebox for mental health, getting the views of over 5000 young people.

Youth champion Zoe won the volunteer of the year at the Youthlink Scotland Awards.

We hosted the Leading the Way Conference, looking at mental health inclusion in the workplace.

Our work with young people was recognised when we won three Youthlink Scotland Awards, including Team of the Year.

Our new five-year strategy, With Fairness in Mind, was introduced.

As part of the Scottish Mental Health Partnership, See Me volunteers took a leading role in their Promote, Prevent, Provide election manifesto campaign.

We launched the mental health inclusion suite of resources for health and social care professionals.

We developed workplace self-assessment tools to help employers identify where they could make improvements for their staff.

FeelsFM relaunched, with a new focus on families and interactions with adults.

In October, we launched the See Us campaign, to encourage more people to take action to tackle stigma, and join the movement.

See Me See Change, a new resource for schools, was piloted and launched for staff and students Scotland-wide in June.

The See Me in Work portal launched, enabling employers to take part in the programme online.

The Scottish Mental Illness Stigma Study was conducted – the first of its kind in the UK.

In October, we celebrated 20 years of See Me with Walk a Mile in Glasgow and a reception with volunteers and partners.

It’s been an incredible journey so far.

And none of it would have been possible without the support of our partners, supporters, team members past and present and, of course, our brilliant volunteers.

We know there’s still work to be done in the years ahead – but we think that, with the ideas, energy and enthusiasm of all those behind the See Us movement, we’ve got a really good chance of making a difference.