Co-op Partnership
In 2019, The Co-op, Mind, SAMH and Inspire launched an award-winning partnership to bring communities together and support people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Our ambition was to respond to the need for everyday support for mental health, providing early-stage support in the heart of communities to prevent people reaching crisis point. The results surpassed even our own expectations.
At the time we concluded our partnership in 2023, the partnership had:
- raised £8.45 million across the UK to support the wellbeing of communities across the four nations, with £1.8 million raised in Scotland alone.
- supported more than 31,000 people through 60 UK-wide community resilience services, with SAMH directly supporting 13,000 people.
- distributed more than 1.7 million printed resources to over 20,000 community venues across the UK.
- influenced national public and policy conversations about mental wellbeing and community resilience. In Scotland, we directly engaged with six Members of Scottish Parliament and three Members of Parliament and holding a parliamentary reception at Holyrood, followed by a member’s business debate around the importance of community resilience in supporting people’s mental health and wellbeing.
None of this would have been possible without the dedication and support of thousands of Co-op colleagues, and even more Co-op customers. Thank you for supporting Scotland’s mental health.
Co-op partnership report
Learn more about the impact of our ground-breaking partnership
Partnership legacy
Five years on, our partnership with Co-op has concluded but, as SAMH’s most successful partnership to date, it leaves a lasting legacy.
Conversations in the community
Complete our free e-learning and find out more about how to support the mental health of others.
What to expect from CAMHS
Our animations explain a bit more about CAMHS, and what to expect if you are referred to the service.
Our guides to mental health
Information to help us understand and manage common mental health problems.
Research about mentally resilient communities
Through our partnership we carried out research to understand what key elements mentally resilient communities share. The findings, published in the Together Through Tough Times research paper, revealed the importance of communities in supporting mental health and wellbeing.
When you help others, it can improve your own mental wellbeing, as well as others. Whether it's small acts of kindness, or volunteering in your community, it can make a real difference.
Read our blog about the Together Through Tough Times research paper.
Together Through Tough Times research paper
Thank you to the communities that took part in the research allowing us to better understand how we can all work together to support mental health and wellbeing.
How to build community resilience
To share some of the learning we’ve gathered during this partnership, we’ve created a ‘How To’ guide to support communities, groups, and individuals to build resilience in their own communities. Download the supporting guides below to get started!
Community resilience toolkit
A guide to building resilience for community groups, organisations and volunteers
How to support mental wellbeing
Top tips for community groups
Community resilience framework
A project planning and evaluation tool
Find out more about our Co-op partnership
For this partnership, we worked with Co-op across the UK, Mind in England and Wales, and Inspire in Northern Ireland.
To learn more about our valued partners, please follow these links:
