From vision to reality: Co-creating a community-led mental health service for Highland

Building something new for Highland

Four years ago, Centred had a vision to create a mental health service for the Scottish Highlands that was built for and by community, with lived experience at its heart. They wanted to adopt the Recovery College model, but needed support to make it a reality.

Habitus came on board at the very beginning of making this vision a reality, partnering with Centred from conception through to implementation and ongoing delivery. What started as early-stage development support has grown into a five-year relationship spanning strategy, service design, income generation, peer leadership development, and mentoring.

Challenges

The Highlands present unique challenges for mental health service delivery. The vast rural geography makes access difficult, with some community members travelling over an hour to reach support. Traditional service models often fail to reach those who need them most.

Beyond geography, there was a deeper challenge: ensuring that the voices shaping this new service were those of people with lived experience, not just the organisations already working in the space. Multiple organisations were interested in being involved, each with their own priorities and perspectives. Without careful facilitation, there was a risk that professional voices would dominate and the people the service was being built for would be consulted rather than leading.

What we did

Our support has spanned the full journey from vision to operating service:

Strategy and service design: Working alongside Centred and community members to shape what Discovery College would become, ensuring the model reflected what people actually needed.

Centring lived experience: Creating safe spaces for development and acting as an ally to ensure lived experience voices led the conversation, not just participated in it.

Income generation: Securing significant funding through grant applications, drawing on a thorough understanding of Centred's work and culture.

Peer leadership and mentoring: Providing ongoing personal and management support, co-development, and mentoring as the service has grown.

System change thinking: Supporting Centred to consider how Discovery College can contribute to wider mental health system transformation in Highland.

This combination of strategic support and practical delivery has allowed the Discovery College team to focus on what matters most: being present with the community they serve and ensuring the service continues to reflect what people actually need.

"My job is immeasurably easier because Habitus are there supporting not just me but the Discovery College. The funding stuff is a godsend... What I want to be is out there making sure that what we are delivering is what people want."

How we made a difference

Our approach has been to walk alongside Centred as partners, not consultants who parachute in and leave. Over four years, we have been there for the significant funding applications and the quick conversations, for the strategic planning sessions and the moments of uncertainty that come with building something new.

This long-term, relational way of working means genuinely sharing in the successes and supporting through the challenges. It means understanding the culture and context deeply enough that our input adds value rather than creating additional work. And it means stepping back so that Centred can lead, while remaining available when support is needed.

"When you work with another organisation, sometimes that other organisation can push their needs to what feels like the expense of yours. Habitus don't do that. I absolutely feel like you're with us, supporting us, holding us up, waving us as we head off to do our own things, and that you are as delighted with our successes as we are."

Results

Discovery College is now a thriving mental health service offering connection, belonging, hope, and community across Highland:

• Open five days a week, with both online and in-person sessions

• Two physical hubs in Inverness and Wick, with a hub-and-spoke model reaching across Highland

• The Inverness hub is deliberately located in a shopping centre, challenging stigma by being visible and accessible in a public space

• Online sessions complement in-person delivery, addressing the rural access challenges Highland faces

• Trained peer mentors and paid roles for people with lived experience, including in leadership

• A model that blends lived experience, creativity, learning, and wellbeing

The community chose the name "Discovery" rather than "Recovery" to make it feel more accessible to anyone looking for help, wherever they are on their journey.

The impact on individuals has been profound. People who previously could not leave their homes due to trauma and the challenges of navigating mental illness are now travelling to the hub, having coffee, doing their shopping, and building real friendships. One person, who had significant difficulty even entering the shopping centre, can now visit Discovery College, go to the chemist, pop into other shops, and return, something that would not have been possible without this service existing in a visible, accessible, public space.

These individual journeys of growing confidence, connection, and purpose are what Discovery College was built for. We continue to work alongside Centred as Discovery College grows, supporting the next phase of its development.

David Brookfield, CEO: "Habitus are friendly, open and really great to get on with which makes working with them a joy. In addition, their work is of very high quality. We would not have achieved what we have without their involvement."

Susan Lyons, Discovery College Manager: "Although they helped us to successfully apply for significant funding, it is the personal and management support, the peer leadership, co-development and mentoring that has stood out most for me. The value of that in our new and developing project has been huge."

Habitus has extensive experience supporting organisations to develop peer-led services from the ground up. For more information on how Habitus can support your organisation or network to develop lived experience and peer leadership, contact us.