This Mental Health Awareness Week we’re shining a spotlight on the work of one of the newest members of our team, Kimberley Wyllie.
Kimberley joined the Foundation as Mental Health & Wellbeing Officer in November last year, in a new role for the Foundation, with a remit to work across all of our programmes to promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
Kimberley explained: “My role covers the whole Foundation, recently I’ve been focusing on three main strands. The first is the Centre Forward Programme and schools support programme for young people. We try to make sure that every young person we work with has a one-to-one support session every few weeks for the duration of the programme.
“As well as planned one to one sessions, I allocate time for impromptu support as identified by the participants or course tutors. I’m also on hand to mingle with the young people and build relationships, it’s so important to create that trust with them and find out a bit more about them and their background which gives me a better understanding of where they are at and if they might need more support.
“The second strand is our Football Pathways programme, I am on hand to support players who may be struggling with their mental health, stress or anxieties – I work closely with them; allow them the space and time to vent but also provide them with tools and a range of other low level support. If necessary, I can signpost them to mental health or support organisations if needed.
“Lastly, I deliver a range of mental health training courses offering new and existing forms of support to our coaches and staff, but also external community organisations. Key to that piece of work is building relationships with other local community groups and charities so we can all bring our skills and experience together to provide better support to local communities in and around the Falkirk area.
“Lots of things can happen in isolation – at Falkirk Community Foundation we are already well established and have a good reputation in the area so it’s all about cementing that and developing those connections so we are not replicating services but rather working together and complementing what we can offer.
“My ambitions going forward are to work to make mental health and wellbeing support something that’s standard for everyone we work with and it shouldn’t be considered a luxury. For me, it’s all about empowering people to take control of their mental health and doing what’s right for them to meet their individual needs.
“I love my job, no two days are the same – it’s not robotic sitting at your desk. I come in in the morning and don’t know what the day is going to hold. It’s a very active job which ties in really well with the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week which is ‘Taking Action.’
“Action is doing and that’s what my role is all about; building that trust, growing those relationships with people and organisations to make communities across the Falkirk area more mentally healthy and to recognise that we are here to support them and that it’s okay to ask for help.”
Derek Allison, CEO, Falkirk Foundation, said: “”Mental Health Awareness Week is an important reminder of the value of talking openly about how we feel and making sure people know that support is available. At Falkirk Foundation, mental health and wellbeing are not treated as a standalone area of work, but are embedded across everything we do, from our programmes with children and young people to our work with adults, families and staff.
“We are particularly proud to have recently appointed Kimberley as our dedicated Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer, strengthening our commitment in this area and this week they will be delivering mental health training to help build knowledge, confidence and understanding across our team and wider community.”
