Make places stigma free for everyone for Time to Talk Day
Posted by See Me, 5 February 2026
Time to Talk Day returns this year with people across Scotland encouraged to make places stigma free for everyone.
Taking place on Thursday 5 February 2026, it is a day that friends, families, communities, and workplaces come together to challenge stigma.
Time to Talk Day is run in Scotland by See Me, the national programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination, and led by Mind in England.
For 2026, See Me is doing things a little different in Scotland. Until now, the campaign has encouraged people to talk about mental health and to reach out for support.
It’s a good message – after all, freedom to speak openly about your mental health can be empowering and can help create supportive conversations.
But what if talking isn’t safe?
When someone lives with a mental health problem or illness, open conversations might not be possible because they know what the consequences could be. Like losing a job, being made to feel ‘less than’, being treated differently by co-workers, or being excluded from everyday opportunities.
Mental health stigma and discrimination can make open conversations unsafe because of these harmful consequences.
People often express too that the stigma they experience around their mental health is made worse by other forms of discrimination like racism, transphobia, misogyny and classism.
That’s why this year’s theme in Scotland is “making places stigma free for everyone”.
See Me is asking communities, schools, workplaces, and healthcare providers and leaders to recognise the different ways that mental health stigma is experienced by people – and to make change happen.
Help See Me create a fairer and more inclusive Scotland free from mental health stigma and discrimination.
Wendy Halliday, See Me director, said: “See Me has been a part of Time to Talk Day since 2018, and every year the campaign has encouraged people to open up conversations around mental health.
“While it is a good message to speak openly about your mental health - and of course it can be helpful to someone’s recovery journey - many people don’t feel safe to do so. This could be for a number of reasons, but we know the fear of stigma and its consequences is a huge barrier – like losing a job, being labelled, or having your mental health status used against you.
“And when you consider that the stigma people experience around their mental health is made worse by other forms of discrimination like racism, transphobia, misogyny and classism, you can see why open conversations are just not possible for many people.
“That’s why for 2026, we are asking workplaces, healthcare services, schools, communities and leaders across those settings to think critically about how stigma impacts people, how it looks for someone who’s also lost trust in services because of racism and other forms of discrimination – and ultimately, we’re asking leaders to consider what they can do to create change to ensure places are stigma free for everyone.
“We want leaders to ask themselves, “what if talking isn’t safe?” and “what can we do to make spaces safer for people?”.
“We’re asking those who have the power to be changemakers to join in our vision to make Scotland a fairer and more inclusive place free from mental health stigma and discrimination.”