Birchwood Highland
Birchwood Highland was established over 25 years ago as a charity working with people with mental ill-health. Whilst we’ve retained our expertise in supporting people with mental ill health, today we focus on improving the quality of a person’s life experiences, whatever their background.
Through our mission statement we aim to increase a person’s capacity to live independently and feel part of the community, thus reducing feelings of isolation.
We support people to build self-confidence and adopt lifestyles that improve their health and well-being. We operate in the Inverness, Easter Ross and Lochaber areas. Many of our staff have been with us a long time and have experience of working with vulnerable people and supporting their recovery.
We believe that investment in staff training is essential in order to provide high quality care, and we require all our staff to work towards the vocational standards set by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).
Our Mission
Birchwood Highland exists to improve the quality of life of people with mental health issues and other complex needs by promoting Independence, Inclusion & Recovery.
In accordance with this statement we aim to achieve seven strategic outcomes:
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Increased capacity to live independently
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Improved ability to manage personal finances effectively
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Empowerment through self-confidence and self-worth to achieve personal goals
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Increased integration into the community reducing feelings of isolation
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Increased readiness for work, education and volunteering.
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Improved self-management of symptoms reducing hospital admissions.
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Improved health, wellbeing and contribution to society through the adoption of positive lifestyles.
Our History
Birchwood Highland is a progressive Charity Limited by Guarantee founded in 1987 and has since maintained a position at the leading edge of mental health recovery.
We work with people over the age of 16 who are experiencing mental ill-health and in some cases additional issues that impact on their ability to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.
We work within the recovery ethos, which means supporting people to live productive lives even if symptoms persist.
We have a 23 bed Recovery Centre in Inverness in which we provide support to service users in 12 self-contained apartments and 11 single rooms under a contract with the NHS Highland Health and Social Care Partnership. The Recovery Centre is the only facility of this kind in Scotland. The photo opposite shows Shona Robison MSP at the Recovery Centre’s formal opening in March 2008.
In the Community, we provide Housing Support and Care at Home services in the Inverness, Easter Ross, and Lochaber areas. Between 2013 and 2014, we developed three new 24/7 supported accommodation services in Inverness.
A further new development, Aspire 2 Be, or A2B, provides support to young people aged 16 to 25 who need additional help to identify and work towards their goals including staying well.
