World Suicide Day – 10th September 2020 raising awareness and working together to reduce the tragic loss of lives in Highland.

Mikeysline is keen to work closely with local communities in Highland to tackle the stigma attached to mental health and suicide to encourage and enable people to speak out and seek support when they need it. One of the ways in which we are doing this is to work closely with others who are passionate about getting these messages out too and we are delighted to be working closely with Nairn County FC and Ross County FC as well as our three Ambassadors, Karen Gillan, Luke Stoltman and Scott Boyd to this end.  Only by talking about mental health and suicide can we hope to make it easier for others to do the same.

On World Suicide Prevention Day we are launching our new logo, which marks how we have matured and developed in our first 5 years, come this December. Our clear message in our logo is that “it’s ok not to be ok”.  The next step is for people to be able to talk about why they are not ok and to seek support.

At Mikeysline we operate every evening of the week, a text line support service and a crisis drop-in centre at the Hive, 19 Academy Street, Inverness. Our services are confidential, non-judgemental and we are there to listen, offer support and where appropriate help in signposting you on to other services that may be able to support you. We will shortly be extending our text line service to include additional options for people to contact us.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, Our Ambassadors would like to share the following:

“World Suicide Prevention Day is an incredibly important day and a chance for us to raise awareness about the staggering rates of suicides all over the world.  I support Mikeysline in its mission to tackle these issues in the Highlands of Scotland. If you are experiencing any thoughts of anxiety or depression, Mikeysline is a non-judgemental and confidential text service offering support.”

Karen Gillan

“Mikeysline is a local organisation to me. Brought up in the Highlands I know how lonely things can get. Having somewhere to reach out to when struggling is a huge help. Growing up I would never have known how to reach out and seek support. Now with Mikeysline there is that support there for people throughout all parts of the Highlands. It’s such a valuable support system to have up here.”

Mental health is such a huge part of people’s lives. If we haven’t experienced it first hand I think we have all  known someone who has. As an athlete and a voice in the Highlands I think it is so important to speak out about Mental Health.

I am a 26 stone professional strongman. Do I have days where I feel mentally drained? Where I just want to stay in bed? YES. I am not ashamed to say I cry. I doubt myself. I worry and stress over the smallest of things. BUT I manage that. Through the gym and physical training I have learned to manage it to the best of my abilities.

If you are scared of admitting that you are having issues don’t be! Shout it out. Shout it out that you need help! There is someone there to help and support you. Just please don’t go unheard and suffer in silence.” 

Luke Stoltman

“Rather than bottle feelings up, reach out and contact Mikeysline or someone close to you. Hopefully there is always someone you can talk to rather than feel the world is on your shoulder. Mental ill health can affect anyone, it doesn’t discriminate and we’ve all been through it at some point in our lives. Reach out and talk and get the support that you need.”

Scott Boyd

Mikeysline is delighted to confirm the appointment of three key Ambassadors to support the charity in its crucial suicide prevention and education work.  Mikeysline, established in late 2015, not only supports those in emotional and mental distress and crisis, but focuses on raising awareness about mental ill health and suicide in an attempt to breakdown the stigma and the barriers to people talking about them openly and seeking support when they need it.

Actress Karen Gillan is a long-term supporter of Mikeysline and has spoken before about the work Mikeysline does as well as visiting the Hive, Mikeysline’s drop-in centre.  Karen supported Mikeysline during the lockdown through making a significant donation in support of the charity’s ongoing work. In this last week, Karen has also confirmed her ongoing interest, commitment and endorsement of Mikeyline’s work through agreeing to become an official ambassador for Mikeysline.

Karen is joined by Scott Boyd, former Ross County Defender, now Stadium Development Manager at Raith Rovers Football Club and Luke Stoltman from Invergordon, five times winner of Scotland’s strongest man. All three are well known in the Highlands as well as much further afield and are keen to support Mikeysline in raising awareness of the importance of maintaining our mental wellbeing which includes being able to talk openly about our mental health and seeking support when we need it.

On these key appointments, Service Manager, Emily Stokes said:

“we are really excited and absolutely delighted to have the support of such well known and influential individuals as Karen Gillan, Scott Boyd and Luke Stoltman as Ambassadors of Mikeysline. All three will be key to supporting us raise further awareness about Mikeysline and about mental health and suicide in general.  Only through talking openly about these issues can we hope to reduce the tragic loss of lives to suicide.”

Donna Smith, Chair of Mikeysline said:  “I fully echo Emily’s comments.  We are really pleased that Karen, Scott and Luke are supporting us in this way and helping us get the message out there, particularly as our services are more in need than ever in these strange and unsettling times. World suicide prevention day on 10^th Sept is a key focus for us just now as we continue our mission to tackle the stigma still unfortunately associated with suicide and our new team of Ambassadors will be key in helping us with this.”

August 2020

Mikeysline is a mental health charity supporting individuals with emotional distress, in crisis and at risk of self-harm or suicide.

Mikeysline operate a text line offering non-judgemental confidential peer support. 

Operating Monday – Thursdays 6pm- 10pm and Friday – Sunday 7pm – 7am.

It also operates a drop-in crisis centre, the Hive, 7 evenings a week. 

Sunday to Thursday 6pm – 10pm and 6pm – 11pm Friday and Saturday.
The Hive will be re-opening post lockdown on Monday 31 August 2020.