Welcome to the October

Network Newsletter!

​​​​Welcome to the October edition of the Network newsletter and a big hello and welcome to new members of the Network.

Our latest edition has all the latest information on useful resources, events and updates from the Network including the findings of our recent Network survey.

The Scottish Community Link Worker Network is the national network, developed and facilitated by Voluntary Health Scotland for primary care community link working in Scotland.

Please visit our webpage for the latest blogs, reports and information about the Network. You can follow us on Twitter @ScotCLWnetwork and don't forget to share your news and updates with us. 

Events, Workshops and Training

Scottish Community Link Worker Network Events

Don't forget that you can find booking details, presentations and key messages from all of our Network events on our dedicated events page. 

YGam: Gaming and Gambling Harm Prevention Training - 6 November
Following a successful training event in June, YGam is offering another opportunity for CLWs to benefit from their City and Guilds accredited Gaming and Gambling Harm Prevention Training. Find out more and book your place here. Please note this is a repeat of the training session held in June.

CLW Knowledge Exchange - 25 November 
Our next Knowledge Exchange will take place on 25 November and will feature presentations from Social Security Scotland, Beat which is the UK's eating disorder charity and the team from Edinburgh and Glasgow universities who support people living with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Find out more and book your place here.

Leads Peer Support event - 26 November
In the latest of our peer support events for CLW Programme Leads, we will hear from Gemma Woollett, HSCP Integration Officer and Lead CLW from the awarding-winning Community Link Worker team in Clackmannanshire. Gemma will talk about their programme and the innovative approaches they are using when it comes to data, including cost benefit analyses, to showcase the impact of what they do.  Book your place here.

Cruse Compassionate Conversations - 11 December
We are fully booked for Cruse's Compassionate Conversations Workshop on 11 December. We will be running another workshop with Cruse in the new year. In the meantime, if you do want to be added to the waiting list for the December workshop, please contact Roisin.

Other Events, Training and Resources

Transforming Scotland's Mental Health System - 4 November
How do we create and embrace big change within Scotland’s mental health system towards a future that values lived experience and peer roles?  Join us for a fantastic opportunity to learn and explore together how we ensure well meaning policies are translated into action that will transform Scotland's mental health system.  More here.

Social Security Scotland: Young Carer Grant brief - 4 and 12 November
From 17 November 2025 the Young Carer Grant eligibility is changing. To support the introduction of the regulation changes, Social Security Scotland is hosting online events to share information on the financial support available for young unpaid carers in Scotland. The free events, hosted via MS Teams, may be of particular interest to stakeholders who provide advice and support to young carers. Register via the links below:
Young Carer Grant Stakeholder Event -  4th November @ 11:00am
Young Carer Grant Stakeholder Event - 12th November @ 2:00pm

Public Health Scotland - Place and Wellbeing Webinar - 6 November
Public Health Scotland is running a launch webinar from 11-12.30 pm on 6 November of their new online resource: "Place and Wellbeing: Integrating Transport and Public Health".  Find out more and book your place.

Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Conference - 12 November
As someone approaches the end of life they may need a range of supports – from health services, social care services, the welfare system, and from family, friends and their communities. This event will explore how this complex web of supports can work more effectively to improve people’s experiences of living with serious illness, dying and bereavement. View the Conference Programme and book tickets here.

Circular Communities Scotland Annual Conference - 12 November
Circular Communities Scotland is delighted to invite you to their 2025 Conference and Exhibition at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow.  Their Conference is open to members, supporter members and stakeholders, as well as everyone involved and interested in the circular third sector in Scotland. This year’s focus on capacity building is about working alongside their membership to strengthen the foundations that allow this vital work to grow — whether that’s through improved funding models, shared skills, peer learning, or increased visibility and influence.  More here.

Poverty and Health Inequalities Forum - 13 November
The Forum  will be hosted at the University of Edinburgh and aims to explore what role(s) we can play in responding to poverty and health inequalities, building on inspiration from Challenge Poverty Week.  It will feature speakers and panelists, bringing a wide range of insights and experience, from a range of different perspectives: community and voluntary sector organisations, people with lived experience, advocacy groups, healthcare professionals and academic researchers. The Forum is free to attend, with in-person and online ticket options. Please register here.

VHS Social Research Consultation Events - 20 & 25 November
VHS is excited to invite you to participate in a new VHS social research project exploring the relationship between gender and health. This will be the first in a series of research projects looking at different social determinants of health. The research will explore the relationship between health and gender identity, with a particular focus on health inequalities related to gender. It will also explore how gendered experiences of health intersect with other forms of identity, including sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, income and caring status. You can find out more about  the consultation events and how to get involved via VHS Social Research: Gender and Health.

Supporting Older People to Age Well workshop  - 2 December
Are you interested in joining a free half-day of tools, tips, and inspiration to help your work or volunteering with older people? Age Scotland's workshop 'Supporting Older People to Age Well' is designed to give you just that!  Their next open session is on 2 December from 1.30-4.30 pm at The Renfield Centre in Glasgow.  Please book here.  They also run bespoke sessions for groups and services, so do email them to find out more.

NHS Education Scotland (NES) Annual Conference - 23 and 24 April 2026
NES is hosting its Annual Conference online over two days on Thursday 23 & Friday 24 April 2026.  The theme of the 2026 Conference is Collaborate. Innovate. Transform: Delivering change towards improving health, social care and other public services in Scotland. Further details can be found here.

Free Digital Support for Sleep and Anxiety: Sleepio & Daylight
Poor sleep and anxiety are common challenges faced by the people you support. Two NHS-approved digital programmes, Sleepio and Daylight, are now free for all adults in Scotland and can be a great addition to your toolkit.  Sleepio offers online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), helping people fall asleep faster, wake less often, and feel more rested. Daylight provides digital CBT for worry and anxiety, teaching practical techniques to manage unhelpful thoughts and stress.  CLWs can help by suggesting these free treatments as part of clients' wellbeing plan when they mention poor sleep or anxiety.  Feel free to email Greig Thomson if you would like local training for your wider teams.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Resources for Primary Care teams
The Scottish Government has some great resources to share about supporting patient mental health and wellbeing. 

1.Mental Health and Wellbeing in Primary Care: A Resource for MDTs
The Scottish Government’s online resource is designed to support staff working in primary care, helping them respond compassionately and effectively to the mental health and wellbeing needs of the people they support.  The introduction outlines the purpose of the resource and who it’s for, with a contact email for feedback or queries.   

2.The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is now in its fifth year and supports community-based initiatives aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing. The Fund has a particular focus on prevention and early intervention, suicide prevention and addressing social isolation. It aims to support communities to address their mental health at an early stage. More information on the Fund can be found here, including case study examples of projects and the impact they have had.  You can find details of active projects in your area via ALISS, local directories and through your local Third Sector Interface.

TURAS Social Prescribing Landing Page
We have added some new courses to the TURAS social prescribing landing page including courses supporting people with Long Covid, support for unpaid carers and emotional wellbeing. The page is available for link workers, social prescribers and the third sector, so please do share with your colleagues. If there are other courses you would like included on the page, please get in touch with Roisin.

Reading is Caring from Scottish Book Trust
Now in its sixth year, Scottish Book Trust's Reading is Caring online and in-person training is well-established and they continue to work to create connections, lasting relationships and personalised advice and guidance.  They have created a training DVD (with a link to access the videos online if a DVD player isn't accessible) which accompanies their workshop materials, guiding care partners through Reading is Caring at their own pace. Their trainers then remain available by email, phone or to chat face-to-face if the participant needs further guidance or reading recommendations.  Find out more: Reading is Caring: A Shared Reading Pack for Dementia Support

News from across the Network

SCLWN survey findings published
Thank you to all the CLWs who took the time to complete our Network survey over the summer. One of the key findings from the survey was that while CLWs love what they do, they are still juggling with the challenges of their role along with ongoing concerns over their job security. Read the findings of our survey.

Health Equity Network Annual Conference 2025
Roisin, along with Sarah Latto, VHS Policy and Public Affairs Lead, Sarah Boath from CHEX and Claire Finlayson from Public Health Scotland recently represented Scotland at the 3rd Health Equity Network Annual Conference in Liverpool. The group facilitated a workshop on community-led approaches to addressing missingness and health inequity, highlighting the vital role of CLWs. The Health Equity Network is a Network of over 5,000 members from across the UK, led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot's Institute of Health Equity. We will share key messages and presentations from the event in due course.

The impact of CLWs and community-led support in Fife
Fife’s Community Led Support Annual Report 2024 highlights the value and impact of the work done by Community Link Workers across Fife. The team have also produced a video entitled ‘Community led support – building one relationship at a time’, which features interviews with the Link Worker and SCLWN member, Shona Jack, and her client Shane, with whom she has worked and supported through the service.  For more information about Fife’s community link worker programme, please contact Louise Andree, Local Area Co-ordinator.

The Impact of Link Working on the Third Sector
The Edinburgh CLW Service has been working with a research team from Queen Margaret University to look at the impact link working has on the third sector.  You can read about its findings in the research paper which was published earlier this month. 

Network Teams Channels - sign up, start chatting and share resources
Just a reminder that we have two Teams channels, one each for community link workers and programme leads to enable everyone to ask questions and share resources. If you want to be added to one of the Teams channels, please contact Roisin.

Clackmannanshire and Stirling Community Link Worker Network Event
The award-winning CLW team from Clackmannanshire and Stirling recently hosted an event at Clackmannan Town Hall to celebrate their programme's achievements during 2024-25. The audience heard from a number of speakers including Gemma Pritchard-Woollett and Tony Channing (below, left) who are the CLW Leads for Clackmannanshire and Stirling respectively. The highlight of the morning was listening to Emma (below, right) who shared her story about the difference that engaging with the CLW service has made to her life. 

Other News

VHS Manifesto calls for funding commitment to social prescribing
VHS recently launched its Manifesto for Health Creation at an event held at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Over 40 members and stakeholders joined to hear more about the Manifesto asks which include a commitment to long-term and sustainable funding for social prescribing including Scotland's community link workers. The audience also heard from a VHS member, Sarah Pryde-Smith from Simba, about why they engaged in the VHS manifesto development process.  Read more about and download the Manifesto for Health Creation.

Why does ‘place’ matter for social prescribing?
A new article has explored social prescribing and the policies and funding decisions which affect voluntary and community services.  Published by Emilie McSwiggan, PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, the article explores the role social prescribing can play in supporting good health and wellbeing by connecting people to community groups and resources that can help to meet our physical and mental health needs.

VHS issues joint statement on prevention
A partnership of third and community organisations, including Voluntary Health Scotland, have come together to set out the urgent action required to achieve the prevention-centred system needed to tackle Scotland’s growing health inequalities crisis.  The statement was published jointly by Edinburgh Community Health Forum, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), Scottish Community Development Centre, and Voluntary Health Scotland. It was developed in response to major policies and frameworks which set out prevention as a key approach to how public services should operate.

PhD Researcher on kidney disease looking for community link workers!
Anna Wilson, a PhD Researcher at Queen's University Belfast, is conducting a study to explore how people with kidney disease can be supported to engage with social prescribing. She is currently recruiting social prescribers, link workers, and representatives from organisations providing socially prescribed activities, to complete a short survey. Participation is entirely voluntary and anonymous, and participants do not need to have prior experience of working with kidney patients. Complete the survey here.

SNP pledges new walk-in GP clinics
John Swinney has outlined plans to create a nationwide network of walk-in GP services, which will be open seven days a week. He said the government would start by launching 15 clinics across Scotland, with the first up and running within the year. He estimated this would add one million GP and nurse appointments to the health system. 

Scotland will miss child poverty reduction targets 
A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found Scotland is expected to miss its child poverty reduction targets by a “large margin” without further action, noting poverty levels remain around the same as they were at the start of the parliamentary session despite the initial impacts of the Scottish Child Payment beginning to show.

Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland (CHES) Report published
The latest report from the Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland -  An Overview of the Social Determinants of Health in Scotland: The Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland - has been published by the Institute of Health Equity and Public Health Scotland. The collaboration is focusing on three areas in Scotland - Aberdeen City, North Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. 

Scottish Government highlights Scottish Health Survey 2024 findings
The Scottish Government has highlighted the Scottish Health Survey 2024 results which provide information on the health, and factors relating to health, of adults and children in Scotland. Half of all adults now have at least one long-term condition, continuing the upward trend, while 39% reported having a long-term condition that limits their activities. 8% of adults report having doctor-diagnosed diabetes which is the highest level recorded.

Housing (Scotland) Bill passed at Stage 3
The Scottish Parliament has approved the Housing (Scotland) Bill at Stage 3, bringing protections for tenants, duties on homelessness and powers to introduce rent controls to Scotland. The bill passed by 89 votes to 28 after MSPs debated almost 400 amendments throughout last week. Local authorities will be given powers to implement rent control zones, allowing them to cap rent increases at inflation plus 1%, up to a maximum of 6%. Built-to-let and mid-market-rent homes will be excluded from rent controls.

Versus Arthritis becomes Arthritis UK
Versus Arthritis has a new name – Arthritis UK – and a new look, which they hope will help them bring about greater change for people living with arthritis across the UK.  They have lots of exciting developments coming soon – please make sure you sign up to be a member of their new SKILLs Community to ensure you get the latest news Professional Network sign up - Step 1