Top writers boost mental health

Story collection, Open Up, snapped up across country

Five of Scotland's top writers have penned a new collection of short stories to celebrate the power of reading and writing to boost our mental wellbeing.

The stories by James Kelman, William Boyd, Jackie Kay, Denise Mina and Janice Galloway will appear in the free booklet, Open Up.

Breathing Space – Scotland's phone line and website for people feeling down, anxious or depressed – is giving away the booklet free in The Herald on February 1.

Selected libraries, university and college libraries, schools and Waterstone's book stores across the country will also be distributing the free booklets over the coming days and weeks. Inmates at Polmont Young Offenders Institution were also given copies and the booklets will also be available at the upcoming Aye Write! festival (March 5 – 13) in Glasgow.

February 1 marks Breathing Space Day, when the helpline encourages people to think of ways to take some time out to support their mental wellbeing in the year ahead.

This year, the campaign celebrates the power of reading and writing to provide a break from our worries, lift our spirits and offer hope.

Tony McLaren, Breathing Space's national coordinator, said: "The aim of Open Up  is a simple one. We would like it to serve as a reminder of how the written word can boost our everyday wellbeing and help us recover from struggles or worries. By reading about how others cope with their feelings, or by reading about feelings we may recognise as our own, we begin to understand that journey of recovery.

"We are thrilled by the calibre of writers who are involved with this book. All the stories show that even in our darkest hours we can find reasons to keep going and recover from mental or emotional distress. These are challenging, sometimes bleak, sometimes funny, but ultimately uplifting tales of people who choose life."

Poet and novelist Jackie Kay said: "I wrote this story during this year’s very heavy January snow. I was thinking about how January is such a long month, and often people get very depressed. The story explores the complex and intimate relationship people can have with depression. As I continued writing the character of the depression surprised me by having some positive aspects, allowing my character to say things that she would never usually say."

Crime writer Denise Mina said: "I've always thought that suicide is a momentary impulse, not a meaningful statement, and the world is full of people who didn't do it and are living in the afterwards.Years ago someone told me that in a concentration camp an inmate stopped someone from committing suicide by saying that if they ran for the wire and got shot they would never find out how their story ended. I started thinking about antisemitism and how much people must have internalised that, the defiance it must have taken just to live every day when the whole visible world speaks against you. Takes guts to walk into afterwards."

If you’re experiencing difficulty in your life and would like to talk to someone, then phone Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87 or visit www.breathingspacescotland.co.uk.

People who are Deaf and who use British Sign language (BSL) can contact a BSL advisor via our website with the use of webcam facilities.