Leading mental health charity, Penumbra, launched a unique self management toolkit for people living with ARBD (alcohol related brain damage). The team at Penumbra developed the toolkit in tandem with colleagues and residents in its two ARBD services located in Edinburgh’s Milestone and Glasgow’s Supported Living service, and features recovery stories from people accessing Penumbra support.

Senior Development Officer at the ALLIANCE, Rhona Millar spoke with staff from Penumbra about the process in producing the toolkit along with Wullie, one of Penumbra's volunteers about his experience of living with ARBD.

The British Heart Foundation is 60 years old this year and during that time society has seen enormous progress in terms of research and healthcare with regards to heart and circulatory disease. In this latest ALLIANCE Live interview, Chief Executive of British Heart Foundation Scotland, James Jopling speaks to ALLIANCE Director of Policy and Communications Lucy Mulvagh on the part of his organisation in making an impact towards improving the lives of people with heart and circulatory conditions.

The Gorbals Social Saunter was established in September 2020 and has progressed in many ways over the past few months. Featuring two participants of the group, this podcast gives an insight into the positive impact of walking especially within the context of a global pandemic. The group was formed by three Community Links Practitioners in the local area and will also include their experiences as leaders and members of the group.

We will be joined by Juliette Walsh who will share how she became involved in the group and the ‘growth’ her input and experience has brought to the project.

Gorbals Social Saunter. Meet Fridays 10:30 at the Peoples Palace / Doulton Fountain on Glasgow Green.  Booking is essential for Test & Protect.  Contact Walk Leaders Kayleigh, Carrie or Kirsty with your name and phone number to book:

·  Kayleigh Stockley [email protected] 07973 722620

·  Carrie Donnelly [email protected] 07738 765331

·  Kirsty McDonald [email protected] 07929 343320

Courageous Leadership is a new ALLIANCE initiative, profiling leaders in health and social care across Scotland. The series, part of the ALLIANCE’s Health and Social Care Academy programme, asks what Courageous Leadership means, delves into what makes great leaders and looks at the journeys toward leadership roles.

The series not only profiles Chief Executives and those at the top of organisations, it speaks to leaders at all levels to reflect a breadth of leadership styles. Each interview is unique, giving a ‘behind the scenes’ look at how leaders approach their work in health and social care, how they inspire others and what they want to see in terms of leadership for Scotland’s third sector into the future.

In 2016, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) funded nine projects for five years in the Transforming Self Management in Scotland round of the Self Management Fund (SMF). The aim of this longer-term funding for the SMF was to impact these organisation’s abilities to effect sustainable change to delivering supported self management to people in Scotland living with long term conditions.

Over the course of two podcasts released in May and September, project leads from the nine projects will take part in a roundtable discussion to promote their learning gained over the last five years.

The first podcast released today will feature input from four projects including COPE Scotland, MS Argyll and Bute, Action For ME and Grampian Opportunities.

In this third episode of the Make Links Podcast, Chris Gourlay, the Evaluation Officer for the Links Worker Programme at the ALLIANCE examines the broader roll out of the Community Links Practitioner role throughout Scotland and how that compares to similar endeavours within the four nations.

Chris is joined by Natasha Kallay, Policy and External Officers for the National Association of Link Workers and Jeff MacDonald, Senior Links Worker at the ALLIANCE.

In 2019 1,264 people lost their lives to drug related deaths in Scotland. That is a 6% increase on the previous year, 3 times that of the rate of the UK as a whole and the highest drug-related deaths rate in Europe. In this edition of ALLIANCE Live Professor Catriona Matheson, Chair of Scotland's Drug Deaths Taskforce, leads us through some of the reasons behind Scotland's drug-related death rate.

This podcast includes descriptions of living with endometriosis, including surgery, pain and heavy bleeding. If you do not want to hear this you can skip to 5:22 to hear the rest of the podcast.

As part of Endometriosis Awareness Month, we are joined by Vicky Chapman, founder and leader of the Endometriosis UK Dundee Support Group, who shares with us her experience being diagnosed with endometriosis, the value of peer support and what ultimately led her to set up a local support group. For Endometriosis Awareness Month, Endometriosis UK are asking people to do the 1 in 10 challenge and ‘Endo the Stigma’

Information about the Dundee group can be found on ALISS: https://www.aliss.org/services/endometriosis-uk-dundee-support-group/

The Facebook page Vicky speaks about:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1292521650889019/

This podcast includes descriptions of living with endometriosis, including surgery, pain and heavy bleeding. If you do not want to hear this you can skip to 12:34 to hear the rest of the podcast.

As part of Endometriosis Awareness Month, ALLIANCE Development Officer Grace speaks to Candice McKenzie and Claire Beattie about their experiences of living with endometriosis, the challenges of getting a diagnosis and the impact on hormones and fertility. Candice and Claire also speak about setting up their grassroots organisation, Endo Warriors West Lothian, which campaigns for research and encompasses a hub where people affected by the disease can access peer support.

Endo Warriors West Lothian hub: https://www.facebook.com/groups/318047295326256/

Episode 2 of the podcast produced by the Community Links Practitioners at the ALLIANCE focuses on their experience working with individuals placed in their respective surgeries shielding list. How have individuals responded to being placed on the list? What have been some of the challenges and where have they seen some amazing things happen from the communities they work in?