A project which helps people struggling with low mood during the winter months checkout some sunlight from their local library is returning to East Dunbartonshire this winter.
Local residents will be able to borrow a Wintering Well Box from their library after the clocks go back on Sunday 26 October and days become shorter.
The boxes were first offered by East Dunbartonshire libraries in a pilot scheme last year. This year, the boxes will also be offered to residents of the Orkney Islands as the loan scheme expands further across Scotland.
Interest in the Wintering Well Box has also crossed the Irish Sea, with Dublin’s library services also set to trial a version of the same scheme this coming winter.
The boxes offer a therapeutic lamp to help counteract the negative effects of low light levels on mental health during the darkest period of the year, along with a guidebook with tips on simple indoor and outdoor activities which can help develop a healthy new winter routine. The boxes also offer access to a free online course helping users tackle the effects of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
The resources in the Wintering Well Box were designed by a project team from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and developed in partnership with people who live with SAD during the winter months.
The box-loan concept was successfully introduced last winter in libraries in Greater Glasgow through an award-winning research partnership with East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture. More than 200 loans with 349 renewals were recorded by the library service, and the research team’s evaluation of the programme showed overwhelmingly positive feedback from library users.
Libraries across East Dunbartonshire are running the scheme again this year and will share Wintering Well boxes north to Orkney.
The development of the Wintering Well boxes is part of the UKRI-funded research project ‘Living with SAD’, led by Professor Hester Parr of the University of Glasgow.
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. 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 exciting new addition to an existing SAD lamp scheme at 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.”
Councillor Jim Gibbons, Chair of the East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture Trust, said:
We are delighted to be running our Wintering Well Box loan-scheme for a second year, helping our communities brighten the darker months. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Orkney Library Services who are launching their first year with Wintering Well boxes.
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 University of Edinburgh 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!”
Orkney Library Services’ mobile library van, known locally as ‘Booky McBookface’, will help distribute boxes across the Orkney Islands, where residents experience less than six hours of daylight by midwinter.
Community link practitioners from Voluntary Action Orkney are also helping promote the scheme, along with a range of Wintering Well activities, which can benefit people who experience low mood during the season of low light. The practitioners work alongside GP practices on mainland Orkney as part of the Primary Care team, with the role funded via the Primary Care Improvement Plan.
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.”
Vikki Kerr, Team Manager (Libraries & Archives) at Orkney Islands Council, said: “Orkney Library Service is delighted to be rolling out the Wintering Well Boxes over the darker months. In Orkney, the winters are long and hard, and people on the mainland and on our outer islands often suffer with limited resources if they experience depression and mental health challenges. The Wintering Well scheme is a simple yet effective way to reach those people and give them the opportunity to change their experience of winter. It is not surprising that public libraries are effective hubs of health and well-being and in this case that can make a big difference to everyday life on Orkney.”
Ciara Dardis, Dublin Libraries’ Healthy Ireland Representative, said: “The Wintering Well library loan is a fantastic addition to our existing static lamp scheme at Dublin. The guide and the CBT course will add value to what we currently have and we are excited to be the first library in Ireland to adopt the resources and start to make a difference for our communities who suffer from poor mental health in winter.”
The distribution of Wintering Well Boxes via library services in the UK and Ireland is an initiative funded by a grant from UKRI’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.
For more information on the project and team, visit the University of Glasgow website.
For information on Winter Well, visit the BBC website.
