Of the men and women completing a survey of mental health issues in rural Scotland 67 per cent reported suffering depression, 22 per cent admitted to suicidal thoughts and feelings, while of the 12 per cent describing self-harming behaviour the majority were under 24 years old.

These were some of the preliminary findings described to this week's meetings of the National Rural Mental Health Forum, and the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Rural Policy, by Professor Sarah Skerratt from the Rural Policy Centre of Scotland's Rural College (SRUC). Her full report, prepared in conjunction with the national mental health charity, Support in Mind Scotland (SiMS) will be published this Easter.

In June last year, SRUC and SiMS brought together rural and mental health organisations and service users, in Dumfries and Inverness, to help prepare an online national survey of people experiencing mental ill health issues across rural Scotland, run in the summer of 2016. It was the first time such a survey had been run.

"A key finding was that mental illness was experienced equally by both men and women, " explained Professor Skerratt. "Another issue was the stress and possible barriers that difficulties with rural transport and communications create for those seeking help. And while sometimes the greater sense of community in rural areas can be a positive advantage, low population density can make setting up anonymous support groups very difficult. People fear stigma and so creating networks with people they trust is critical."

These initial report findings followed this week's announcement by Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing of a £25k funding package to help SiMS develop the National Rural Mental Health Forum.

"As part of SRUC's Rural Scotland in Focus process, we became increasingly aware that the picture around rural mental health was patchy and mostly anecdotal" said Professor Skerratt. "But we are not specialists in mental ill health and so partnering with the charity SiMS that has outreach in rural areas made sure our survey work was tailored to people experiencing mental ill health. It meant we could bring people to the table who were both rural experts and mental health service users.

"If I was asked what the one take-home message is, it would be this - that people want to create ways to connect before their personal crisis occur, preferably in non-clinical settings and ideally in their own locality. There's a real emphasis, from the islands in the north and west, to the mainland areas in the south, on talking and connecting being essential in helping to address isolation with rural living."