New project using Digital Talking Mats to self manage

We are delighted to have been one of 15 new projects awarded funding from The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland.

The ALLIANCE, in partnership with the Scottish Government have announced the funding in a second phase of the Transforming Self Management in Scotland Fund.
Announcing the newly funded projects at the Self Management Awards, Minister for Public Health and Sport, Aileen Campbell MSP, said
‘This new phase of projects supported through the Transforming Self Management in Scotland Fund will be working to address some of the major challenges we face across health and social care, head on. It’s vitally important that we continue to recognise how lives can be transformed when people are supported to live well, on their own terms, with whatever long-term conditions they have.’
The projects currently funded by the Transforming Self Management in Scotland Fund support a broad range of self management activities and age groups in wide range of locations across Scotland, from the Highlands to the Borders. All 15 new projects, along with the 23 existing projects strongly contribute to the Clinical Strategy for Scotland and demonstrate clear links to the Fund’s ethos of transforming self management in Scotland through person centred, co-productive approaches within their communities.
The Grant Allocation Panel, made up of members of Government, third sector organisations, people with lived experience, NHS and from academia, were impressed with the high standard of applications received to the Fund in the first round of funding which closed in December 2015. Due to the high number of excellent applications received the panel chose to take a small number of applications forward to a second phase of assessment of which 15 were successful. This now allocates £7million of the available £10million until 2021, so the Panel have taken the decision not to open a new round of Funding this year. The Fund will likely open to new applications in October 2017.
The 15 funded organisations are as follows:
• Bipolar Scotland
• Grampian Opportunities
• Highland Third Sector Interface
• LGBT Health and Wellbeing
• Lomond and Argyll Advocacy Service
• Nari Kallyan Shangho
• Pain Concern
• Plantation Productions
• Realize Your Potential CIC
• Scottish Council on Deafness
• Scottish Recovery Network
• Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Scotland
• Talking Mats
• The Haven
• Volunteer Development East Lothian

In our Talking Mats project, we want to empower people with a range of long term conditions (LTC), with and without additional communication difficulties, to manage their own health and well-being by using Digital Talking Mats (DTM). Digital Talking Mats will be used in our project to support people to:
1. reflect and describe the issues which affect their quality of life (not just those perceived by carers and/or professionals) and which matter most
2. ensure that their specific concerns are acknowledged and dealt with and not just assumed to be caused by their long term condition
3. recognise and develop their own strengths and abilities
4. share their insights relating to their health and social care in an easily accessible and recordable manner across all settings
5. own and implement self-management solutions
6. evaluate their progress and the long term impact of using DTM for their self-management
7. increase communication with health and social care professionals

Currently the DTM is used predominantly by professionals but its intuitive design means that there is great untapped potential for it to be used by individuals with long term conditions as a self-management tool both in their own homes and in health and social care settings.
We will work with 30 people with different long term conditions in Scotland – 10 people with dementia, 10 people with learning disability and 10 people with stroke. We will visit each person in their own homes to show them how to use the DTM, to provide ongoing support and to evaluate how they are managing their health and well-being.

Anyone interested in further information about this project should contact: info@talkingmats.com or telephone 01786 479511