Orkney residents will benefit from a programme to help those with Seasonal Adjustment Disorder (SAD) in a bid to improve their mood during the winter months.
The University of Glasgow (UoG) and University of Edinburgh (UoE)’s Wintering Well programme is to come to Orcadians on Sunday October 26, as the clocks go back and days become shorter.
Wintering Well boxes will be available in various libraries across the island after what the university described as a successful pilot year in East Dunbartonshire last year.
Interest has crossed over to Ireland, as Dublin’s libraries also prepare to trial the scheme.
The boxes contain a therapeutic lamp aimed to counter the effects of low light on mental health during the darker months, along with a guidebook on simple indoor and outdoor activities which can help develop a better winter routine.
Inside are also free online courses on the effects of SAD.
During its pilot last year, the boxes were loaned out over 200 times, and were renewed 349 times by libraries involved.
East Dunbartonshire will run the scheme again this year.
Orkney Library Services’ mobile library van, known by locals as Booky McBookface, will help distribute the boxes across the islands, where residents will see less than six hours of daylight by the middle of winter.
The development of the Wintering Well boxes is part of the UKRI-funded research project Living with SAD, led by Professor Hester Parr of UoG.
Professor Parr, of the University’s school of geographical & earth sciences, said: “According to the Royal College of Psychiatry, more than a million people across Britain experience symptoms of SAD, including emotional challenges, lowered mood, and feelings of anxiety.
“However, they often have very limited access to social or medical support to help them through winter.
“Our Wintering Well boxes are aimed at helping people find ways to deal with those feelings through creative activities while finding connection and support with others who struggle with low mood.
“We’re delighted to extend our work in partnership with community services in the Orkney Islands. Life in remote, rural and island locations can be challenging for those with SAD.”
She added: “Our research shows that use of therapeutic lamps, combined with new outdoor routines and programmatic encouragement to notice natural light, really do make a difference to those with this form of depression.
“The Wintering Well library loan is also going to be an exciting new addition to an existing SAD lamp scheme in Dublin.
“The guide and the CBT course will add value to what they currently have and Dublin is the first Library in Ireland to adopt the resources and start to make a difference for their communities who suffer from poor mental health in winter.”
Community link practitioner Erika Copland said: “Within our role, and in GP practices across Orkney, we encounter people affected by SAD: there are those of us who have family members ourselves who are affected.
“Having seen the results of the research carried out alongside the pilot scheme in East Dunbartonshire, we feel that the Wintering Well boxes are going to be a valuable added resource for our community, allowing folk to experience a SAD lamp and other tools to enable them to cope better with the long, dark winter days.
“Resources utilising Orkney’s landscape and nature can enhance people’s wellbeing, and having one specific to what can be a difficult time of year is welcomed.”
Living with SAD is also the inspiration for a new five-part radio series broadcast last week on BBC Radio 4. Winter Well is presented by project team member Professor Hayden Lorimer of the UoE and is available now on BBC Sounds.
Professor Lorimer said: “I hope the radio series will attract a diverse listening audience nationwide. We know that people of all ages, in all parts of the country, can find life a bit of a struggle as the long nights draw in.
“That shouldn’t surprise us: after all, we’re solar-powered creatures! So, it’s wonderful that in Winter Well we can share the winter wisdoms of medics, scientists, writers, artists, poets, entrepreneurs, future-gazers, and everyday folk. If you’re in search of inspiration about how to do the dark season differently, then be sure to listen, like and download!”
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