Rural wellbeing conference
Strathpeffer Pavilion
Friday 26 January 2018
Opening remarks : Graham Morgan
Hello
It is my job to welcome you to today’s conference; I’ve never done something like this before but it is very exciting.
So to get the most important bit over and done with : welcome everyone, I hope you have a wonderful day, that what you hear from the speakers is stimulating and interesting and that maybe you learn a little and are challenged a bit. I also hope that in your discussions and conversations that you all have the chance to speak about the things that you wish to and meet the people you would like to and hope to meet.
Well that’s almost that then!!! I could stop there! But it is good to remind ourselves why we tend to come to events like these. I am sure that you are all passionate in some way about mental health, mental illness and wellbeing, I am sure that challenging stigma and raising awareness is important to you, as is mental health in the workplace and just plain old living and coping with poor mental health and, of course, I imagine some of you can sometimes get a bit frustrated at how little understanding there sometimes is of the reality of living with a mental health problem in a rural area.
My name is Graham Morgan, I am the engagement and participation officer for the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland and have the most wonderful job meeting people with a mental illness or learning disability or dementia or Autism in hospitals, drop in centres, cafes, resource centres across Scotland: anywhere from Wick to Mull, Galashiels to Ardnamurchan, Dumfries to Blairgowrie.
I now live in what must be the most urban part of Argyll near Helensburgh, so I feel a slight fraud talking about rurality. I am also the special advisor to HUG action for mental health, who have staff and members present here today, they act as a voice for people with a mental health problem in the Highlands and have members throughout that area.
I think it is the task of someone welcoming you to an event like this to say a few words that maybe get you thinking about the subjects we are going to discuss and consider.
One of the things that has never left me from when I worked full time with HUG is when we worked with Glasgow and Dundee Universities on a study of mental health in rural areas. One of the people interviewed remarked on how awful it can be to live in one of the most beautiful areas in the world and get not the slightest bit of pleasure from the sight of the mountains, the lochs and beaches that the area is famous for, in fact, find it even more easy to despair because they no longer get pleasure from beauty and see not only greyness in their life but greyness around them. I think those words, spoken about fifteen years ago, have a ring of truth that illuminates some of the issues we may address today. Some people see life in a rural area as a lifestyle choice, see life as an idyllic existence away from the fumes and bustle and clamour of a city and are not aware of the very real poverty, the lack of work, and the isolation that can occur when living with life threatening conditions far from services and help and support.
And remembering my time in Highland, I think we are sometimes blessed by a wonderful and supportive community, but sometimes this goes too far or is not as accurate as we would like it to be. I remember that one of the times I was admitted to New Craigs, our local plumber knew I had been admitted before my family did, and I also remember the determination of my wife for me not to speak publicly about my diagnosis of schizophrenia, for fear of the reaction of our local community and how it might affect our young son and, although I know of a great sense of welcome and belonging in some areas, I have also heard of people being targeted and victimised in small communities because of perceived difference and threat in ways that might not happen with the relative anonymity of large towns and cities.
All food for thought, I loved working in the highlands, trying to change the world in meetings in such places as Aultbea, Golspie, Thurso, Kingussie or Kinlochleven; meeting the most wonderful people; learning so much, being inspired by ideas and experiences and hopes and dreams. Working to improve mental health services across the area; providing awareness training anywhere from Dounreay to primary schools in Invergordon. Talking about the difficulty of getting to appointments by public transport in Inverness from across the area, talking about the need for support in crisis when there is no drop in centre near by and the visits of c.p.n’s and are few and far between and it is too difficult and to get the bus to the nearest GP.
Where work is hard to get and often seasonal, where shops are expensive and managing on benefits, a constant trial and hardship.
A whole host of issues that energise, depress and just plain old get you thinking and wishing we could make a difference, could make beautiful rural areas of which the Highlands are just one example, places of wellbeing and belonging and community where difference of whatever sort is accepted and understood much more and where it is possible to reach out at the school gate or the post office or on the bus and provide that small shred of comfort that can keep a person going and hopeful for a bit longer than they would have otherwise done.
What we experience when we go through mental ill health is both universal and at the same time can be alienating, a couple of days ago I talked to a dear friend whose daughter is struggling with her mental health. I was moved by her determination to help and do whatever she could, moved also by the support of her friends and how surprised she was at how common mental ill health is and also saddened because when we love people very much and know they want to die we often do not have the first idea what to do, and as we witness them becoming more and more delicate and fragile can try to bolster them up in ways they cannot manage, can try to give them a resilience and strength that initially is beyond them and more than they can take on. Each family going through this is likely to share many of the same experiences, make many of the same mistakes and yet be totally unique in their world and how best to respond to what they are going through; like I said, unique and universal.
The world of mental illness is a fraught and difficult one. You can be alone and lost in a pub or on the beach. You can be filled with exhaustion and despair at work in the city or driving up the A9. You can be besieged by voices and the fear of what people think of you, in the arms of your family at Christmas and in the dark of a railway station in the pouring rain looking over the pitch darkness of the Clyde on the way to work at 6.00 in the morning.
There are so many issues specific to Rural areas, or which are heightened in Rural Areas. As I said it’s more expensive for us to live in such places but it’s also more expensive to provide services. It can be incredibly difficult to attract workers to some areas which can mean that we do not have access to the people we need to see.
The loneliness of spilling your innermost secrets in a session in Inverness only to have to face the long, long, journey home on the bus dealing with the memories this raises. The need for a safe place in crisis and easy access to hospital beds when your nearest hospital is a hundred miles away and is not likely to admit you anyway, and to be honest the lack of knowledge that some people have of living in remote and rural areas.
I am struck by the sort of slight condescension I hear about working and living in places out of the central belt now that I no longer live in the Highlands, a sort of
‘Yes, we know it is important but is it really that important?’
an attitude I would like to see change.
I would really, really, hate it if we thought today that we were going hear of or to come up with cast iron answers or solutions to the despair some people have as a constant part of their lives. I must admit I hate and despise the arrogance that can occur when one person decides that they know what will bring contentment and peace to another person but I do love it when we share ideas and experiences and stories about what can work and what sometimes doesn’t work, when in company, or when later, in the peace of the night, we can reflect and make tiny steps towards some better personal understanding and acceptance or otherwise of what we are going through.
I really hope you have the most amazing conference and that you meet people and talk about things that stimulate and energise you in much the same way that I am impressed and inspired every time I am given the privilege of hearing peoples stories and challenges and their own ideas of solutions to those challenges wherever I happen to be in Scotland.
Thank you.
For more information on the Mental Welfare Commission visit : https://www.mwcscot.org.uk/
You can find out more about HUG (action for mental health) at https://www.spiritadvocacy.org.uk/hug
(Photo:Ardmore Point. 2021)
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