What action it is taking to improve access to self-referral pathways to support good mental health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of empowering people to manage their mental health and wellbeing, and that access to trustworthy digital advice, resources and psychological therapies is critical to this.Our wellbeing website, Mind to Mind, offers mental health and wellbeing advice, as well as signposting information to wider mental health support, using short videos from people with mental health conditions. NHS Inform also holds self-help guides on mental health conditions to help people recognise what they may be struggling with and providing guidance on when to seek appropriate support for their needs.Over 2025-26 we invested £3.7 million in Breathing Space- a free, confidential phone and webchat service for anyone over 16 who is struggling with their mental health and wellbeing. We also invested £11 million to the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub which provides compassionate advice and support to people seeking urgent help with their mental health (with around 10,000 calls per month).An expansion of the Hub launched in December 2025, to provide a national pathway to brief psychological interventions for those would benefit from early treatment but would not meet the criteria to access local specialist secondary care mental health services. This is providing treatment from professionals appropriately trained in psychological practice. It is helping to improve early identification of the need for support and timely access to early intervention support to prevent mental health issues escalating, support for life events, and to help people cope with physical health conditions.We also continue to expand the range of self-referral digital therapies for people with anxiety, depression or insomnia, and have increased access to internet enabled cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) so people can speak to a mental health professional online. There were over 77,000 referrals to digital therapies last year.Alongside digital support, it is positive to see new models of accessible mental health support in communities and we are committed to expanding access to community-based mental health hubs over this Parliamentary term.Finally, as we work with partners to design and implement the service renewal framework across mental health, we will reflect on our current self-referral offers and consider where else we can provide safe and effective self-referral support.