Projects

GST's project delivery is centered around providing support for veterans and their families in the rural communities of Garelochhead and the Roseneath Peninsula in Argyll & Bute and have currently expanded their work to West Dunbartonshire , Alexandria and the Vale of Leven.
Currently in their extension phase, GST collaboratively works with some veterans and their family as peer researchers together with two support researchers based in Inverness and Dumfries and Galloway and both work for their respective NHS boards. Their research examines the impact of veterans' engagement with GST on their mental health, individual well-being, and how this has influenced their participation in the broader community.
In their first phase, they worked with Dr Sarah-Anne Munoz who is currently with the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care. In addition to their Ideas fund project, GST offers community activities such as brunches and arts classes for the veteran community.

This project is in Kyleakin and works across the wider area of the Isle of Skye & Lochalsh. Recently awarded an extension, Kyleakin continues to provide support and training for individuals from the ages of 19 to 56 years with learning disabilities which include Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Epilepsy to develop communication skills in Makaton. Makaton is a sign and symbol based language system used by individuals with communication challenges.
With this project, Kyleakin is also rebuilding a sensory community garden in their community to promote inclusivity and build connections.
They are now collaborating with Dr Gill Hubbard and Dr Rohan Slaughter, both from the University of Dundee. Since the beginning of their project, they have successfully installed the Makaton till system and trained more than 7 individuals to work with their Makaton tills.
The group shares that- “Without the Ideas Fund we would not be building relationships and working with researchers to develop research processes which are inclusive for adults with learning disabilities.”

Located at the town of Inverness, Centred was interested in the benefits of how individuals could secure meaningful skills development, training, employment or volunteer opportunities by utilizing their mental health as an asset rather than seeing it as a burden.
In their first phase of their Ideas Funded project, they have worked with people with lived experience of mental health and/or substance misuse whose interest is in giving back to their community. The main aim of the project was to create role models for hope and recovery and showing that people at any stage of mental health or substance use recovery have skills and abilities that can meaningfully benefit the sector and community.
Recently awarded an extension, Centred is expanding their reach to more organizations and communities in the Highlands such as Caithness and Lochaber. One of the things they are exploring is the power and validation brought by peer research/support through the benefits that peer practices bring to people and communities with lived experience across Highland region that they don’t get elsewhere. They continue to work with their researcher Dr Noreen Grant who is an independent researcher in this phase.

Deepness will work with partners across the Western Isles and with three researchers to explore the impact of participation in creative activities on experiences of agency, autonomy and mental wellbeing for people with a lived experience of dementia and their unpaid supporters. Participants in the project will work in group or individual creative disciplines to explore and document their dementia stories auto-ethnographically. The researchers will collaborate with Deepness, arts centres, and facilitators to support peer researchers as they participate in the arts activities. Disciplines include but are not restricted to music, movement, dance, crafting, painting, poetry, printing, sculpting and multi-media installations and will vary across creative venues. Project participants will be split into two groups – the Peer Researcher Group and the Arts Participant Group. Both groups will come together for the final inter-generational festival of dementia arts and mental wellbeing.

Based on the Isle of Gigha, the 'Our Gigha and Me' project which finished at the end of 2022, looked at whether specific and community led interventions could help facilitate the wellbeing of children and families by encouraging more participatory engagement with nature, with the known benefits this can bring. The partnership with the researcher was extremely positive; particularly in identifying appropriate methodology to encourage community participation and empowering the project members to be confident in their ideas and decision making. Activities are based around the story of 'The Gigha Furboch'. The children and families hunt for the Furbochs using map references – when they find them and their little shepherds' hut they can take part in a range of nature based and wellbeing activities inside. There is a separate den for families to use as an outdoor meeting space, sheltering in a wooded area on the Island.

The Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness is facilitating this project using film and photography to empower young people to document their interactions with the coastline, and its positive effect on mental wellbeing. They are being joined by researchers with expertise in exploring surf therapy, the outdoors, and mental health and arts and wellbeing in rural communities, who are providing support with co-design and practice based action research. By developing a sense of community, belonging and identity, the participants are encouraged to demonstrate confidence and self-expression.

Located in the Highlands of Scotland and founded by an Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest(OHCA) survivor, Lucky2BeHere responds to community requests to provide training and equipment to enable the ordinary person to save a life in OHCA cases.
With their Ideas Fund grant, they partnered with Save a Life Scotland and the national resuscitation campaign team within Resuscitation Research Group (University of Edinburgh), to identify individual and community narratives and commonalities in unmet needs through an action research approach. This project sought to not only give communities the confidence to save lives but has also provided significant support for OHCA survivors in the rural areas of the Highlands and Islands.
The group shares that “we feel that one to one engagement with survivors and rescuers and their families has been really valuable and worked really well so far in highlighting the holes in current services.”

Supporting parents who have lived experience of perinatal and infant mental ill-health, this is a joint project run by three specialist organisations in Moray, including those with lived experience. They are building a supportive community and involving previously underrepresented groups, with training provided to peer researchers to identify existing evidence and capture qualitative lived experiences. By hosting wellbeing events and connecting with researchers, the project is building a supportive community and equipping them with the skills to embed a long-lasting support network, as well as raising a greater awareness in the community of perinatal mental health.

Run by the North Lands Creative Studio and supported by visiting artists and teaching staff, this project has been designed by and for young people to develop inspiring and interactive glass-making activities, with young people and staff being invited and trained to act as co-researchers. The project aims to explore how the process of glass-making and transformative art may lead to improved self-expression and managing emotions. The researcher is helping to devise strategies for the recruitment to their Youth Advisory Group and will eventually plan co-research and arts-focused activities.

Situated on the Isle of North Uist, the local historical society are facilitating both the preservation of Gaelic heritage and its promotion to wider audiences.
With researcher support, they are exploring the intrinsic links between the local culture and the wellbeing of its community. The project is also bringing the community together to create long-lasting, embedded wellbeing spaces where their shared culture can be discussed and celebrated.

This project is located on the Achindaul Farm, Spean Bridge, Lochaber which is part of The Great Glen Cattle Ranch. With beautiful native woodlands and a small river running through the property, the main aim of the Space to be project is to work with the young people and their families to provide an opportunity to spend time in nature. They recently shared that “since its initial launch in Autumn 21,… has had a significant positive impact on both physical and mental health of many members of the Lochaber Community.”
They currently have about 25 young people benefiting from the woodland sanctuary and are hoping to support more people from their community.