Scottish Recovery Network

06/03/2026

📽️ For we hear from Aled Bartley-Jones, Manager (Mental Health & Substance Use) Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action

Aled explains how they are overcoming the challenges of developing peer worker roles and what's needed to grow peer support in Scotland.

06/03/2026

📌 Funding opportunity - Ethnic Minority Development Fund Support Sessions

The Ethnic Minority Development Fund (EMDF) is available to any ethnic minority-led third-sector organisation in Scotland.

Organisations can apply for a minimum of £500 up to a maximum of £15,000 for their project idea. CEMVO Scotland is hosting three funding support sessions that will allow you to write a strong application and avoid common pitfalls.

Sessions will take place from 10:00 - 12:00 online on 25 March, 13 April and 12 May.

Learn more about the fund👇

The Building Funding Capacity (BFC) programme supports ethnic minority third sector organisations to:• Apply for grant funding through the Ethnic Minority

05/03/2026

Please share🧡

Our March newsletter shares our latest Creating Hope with Peer Support Practice Guide: Exploring Safety and Risk

AND

Booking opens for our Let's Evaluate Peer Support Roadshow!

All here👉 https://bit.ly/MarchNews2026

👀 You're featured: Penumbra Penumbra United to Prevent Su***de The Discovery College Mindspace SAMH Moray Wellbeing Hub Arrows - A Quarriers Service Third Sector Interface Moray Sacro GREC Voices Of eXperience (VOX) 'Bipolar Scotland TFN SCVO COSLA

04/03/2026

📍New blog! Exploring four key components of peer support

Peer support is increasingly recognised as a vital part of Scotland’s mental health landscape. As understanding grows, so does the need for clarity about what peer support is, and what makes it effective.

Our latest blog explores four key components that you told us underpin meaningful and impactful peer support.

Our latest blog explores four key components that you told us underpin meaningful and impactful peer support.

04/03/2026

➡️ Coming to Angus 26 March!

We're collaborating with Penumbra Mental Health to facilitate a one day Creating Hope with Peer Support workshop for people involved in peer support in Angus.

We’ll start with an exploration of peer support and why it has a vital role to play in su***de prevention.

Then we'll look at the Creating Hope with Peer Support Pathway. This Pathway outlines four key stages of the peer support relationship and journey: Connect, Explore, Hope and Support.

Group numbers for this workshop are deliberately low to provide a small group session where participants in similar roles can discuss challenges, shape solutions and exchange skills and ideas.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creating-hope-with-peer-support-in-angus-workshop-tickets-1980073881281?aff=oddtdtcreator

Angus Independent Advocacy Angus Carers Centre Angus Voice Penumbra Angus Wellness Services Dundee & Angus Local Group Angus Health and Social Care Partnership Angus Housing Association Ltd Voluntary Action Angus

03/03/2026

03/03/2026

Fraser's Story

"I liked how the support I got from my Peer Practitioner Kayleigh was focused on me, rather than just following a script. I found the 1:1 phone calls and 'conversation-based' support really helpful.

I had got into the habit of being quite negative and Kayleigh reinforced positivity"

Self-Harm Network Scotland provides compassionate support, resources, and information about self-harm. Find out more at www.selfharmnetworkscotland.org.uk

After reaching out to Self-Harm Network Scotland, Fraser started getting 1:1 from Kayleigh, one of our amazing Peer Practitioners 💙

In this new recovery story, Fraser opens up about how the intense pressures of his job lead to feelings of depression.

Thank you for sharing your story, Fraser 🙏

Read Fraser's Story here 👇
selfharmnetworkscotland.org.uk/frasers-story/

26/02/2026

24/02/2026

On Thursday we launch 'Exploring Safety and Risk' the fourth in our series of Peer Support Practice Guides. Get it straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter

https://scottishrecovery.net/newsletter-signup/

This free resource brings together learning from peer workers about responding to safety concerns in ways that strengthen trust, reduce isolation and help people stay connected during difficult times.

23/02/2026

Creating Hope with Peer Support has built a strong foundation for recognising and valuing peer support in su***de prevention across Scotland. Over three years, we've witnessed peer workers and grassroots organisations flourish, and entire communities demonstrate the extraordinary power of lived experience.

But this is just the beginning. As we welcome the launch of the second The Scottish Government and COSLA Creating Hope Together Action Plan, it's time to build on this momentum.

Here's what Tom Arthur Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing said about peer support and lived experience at our national event.

19/02/2026

People involved in peer support face an impossible choice - compromise the values that make the work effective or struggle to articulate impact in ways that secure funding and sustainability.

At SCVO The Gathering 2026, Scottish Recovery Network and peer support organisations came together to speak about evaluation. Not about targets or performance dashboards, but about language, confidence and finally having a way to describe what they already know works.

Find out more about in this TFN feature (page 28).

https://tfn.scot/magazine/february-2026/read

18/02/2026

Our Collective Voice

The ALLIANCE manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election sets out a positive vision for the next five years.

You can access the Our Collective Voice manifesto in several formats:

The designed manifesto PDF
A plain text DOC
An Easy Read PDF or DOC
A British Sign Language (BSL) version

We have launched our manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

The 2026 Scottish Parliament election takes place in the context of serious, overlapping challenges. Half of adults in Scotland now live with a long term condition and the number of unpaid carers continues to rise. Ongoing pressure on public finance negatively impacts the delivery of essential public services and the third sector is stretched to breaking point. At the same time, our everyday rights are under increasing threat.

However, the challenges Scotland faces are not insurmountable if we collectively rise to meet them. In our manifesto for the election, “Our Collective Voice”, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) set out our solutions to these challenges and call on Scotland’s political parties to offer a vision of hope for the next five years. We have a vision of Scotland as a human rights leader, with fair finances and an equitable economy. A Scotland where in equal partnership with the third sector, we renew social care and deliver public services for everyone, rooted in effective prevention, early intervention, and lifelong support.

You can read our manifesto here: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/policy-and-research/campaigns/2026-scottish-election-manifesto/