Bipolar Scotland (Scottish Borders)

Founded in 1992, we are Scotland’s national charity for everyone who lives with bipolar disorder and those who care for them. We:

• Challenge stigma and discrimination while representing the views of people who live with bipolar to politicians and health professionals.
• Run self-help groups throughout Scotland.
• Provide training courses on how to self-manage bipolar.
• Provide useful information on everything to do with bipolar.


Current opportunity

We would like to meet people who live with bipolar disorder and who have reached the point that they are managing their bipolar well. If you would like to spend a little of your time helping someone who has recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, then we would like to hear from you. Working collaboratively with the Peer Workers and other colleagues, our Peer Support Volunteers provide complimentary practical and emotional support to those who have been newly diagnosed with bipolar. Our volunteers are able to utilise their lived experience of living well with bipolar disorder, to inspire and empower those who use the service to acquire and enhance skills to improve their personal resilience and enable them to live well with bipolar too. They will draw on their knowledge and skills to provide practical support in areas such as confidence building, budgeting, social inclusion, employability and education to support individuals to achieve their goals, to create meaningful and sustainable connections with other sources of support within their communities and instil a sense of hope for the future and what they can achieve. Volunteering times are flexible on any day, either morning, afternoon and evenings, to mutually suit the volunteer and the person benefitting from peer support. We would expect approximately 1 to 2 hours per week time commitment. Our volunteering is on-line, from the volunteer’s home, and throughout the whole of Scotland, including The Borders.