Continuing our Partnership with SAMH

Keppie is delighted to announce the continuation of our partnership with Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH) for 2024.

SAMH has been around since 1923 and they work with various communities throughout Scotland to tackle the increasing need for mental health and wellbeing support. 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem, such as anxiety or depression in their lifetime, and since the pandemic, SAMH’s information service saw a 50% increase in demand. The Keppie Team recognise how vital mental health services are and continue to be motivated to achieve our 2-year target of £20,000.

SAMH focus on helping everyone to better understand mental health problems, and supporting those of us who live with mental health problems to recover and lead full lives. They promote self-help and wellbeing and provide useful information on how you can help someone you care about with a mental health problem, with a focus on suicide prevention. They aim to end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health difficulties. SAMH support a range of communities from homelessness, addictions, housing support, care homes, supported accommodation, employment and many more people throughout Scotland.

For more information on the work that they do, or if they can help you or someone you care about with a mental health problem, please visit their website.

OUR FUNDRAISING IN 2023

We set a goal at the beginning of 2023 to raise £20,000 over 2 years to support the valuable work that SAMH do to improve lives and mental health support across the whole of Scotland. £20 gives SAMH time to listen and talk to someone who is struggling to cope. We wanted to be able to help aid SAMH to reach further people who will be able to access this help, which is so vitally needed!

2023 saw us raise over £11, 331.91 through organising and taking part in various fundraising events, such as the below:

• Annual Step Challenge – participants entered a 6-week challenge in January to walk 10,000 steps per day
• Valentine’s Bake-Off & Bake-Sale – this turned into a rather competitive event that even Mary Berry would be proud of!
• The Kelpies Supernova 5k – our team brought along friends and family for this neon-clad 5k for all abilities
• MacTuff Challenge – our 11-strong team braved the mud, stinging nettles, barbed wire and dark tunnels at this tough event in Dunfermline
• Guess the Artist & Auction – we channeled our inner Van Gogh to create original art pieces, which were then auctioned off
• Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon – 4 Keppie teams completed a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21km run, competing against some of Scotland’s top athletes and more than doubling their fundraising target!
• Keppie Krufts – a virtual “Crufts”-style event for our furry friends, categories included obedience, skills, agility and best dressed
• Games Night – we hosted an office-wide games night – think tug of war, jenga, guess who and egg and spoon races to name a few

Our fundraising throughout 2023 has allowed SAMH to provide:

• 50 days of suicide prevention research as part of their dedicated PhD programme at the University of Glasgow’s Behavioural Research Lab
• 40 sessions of Peer Support Counselling through their project Sam’s Cafe, across Fife and Inverclyde
• 166 young people to attend a mental health workshop where they learn how to look after their own wellbeing and support their peers

In November, Keppie’s dedicated Charity Team of Janine, Kim, Elisabeth, Alistair, Annabel and Kirsty attended SAMH’s Centenary Ball at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum with our in-house mental health first aiders, Debbie and Mary, to celebrate the monumental occasion and also gain valuable insight from some of those SAMH has helped through difficult times.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN 2024

Last week, Rachael from SAMH visited the office to give us a bit of a refresh on SAMH and talk through what our fundraising has achieved so far. This provides our team with valuable motivation going forward in 2024.

We have an exciting calendar of events set up for this year, so keep an eye out for announcements in the near future!