Edinburgh-based charity Miricyl has been helping people access mental health resources in one place. Its website features a web app providing a range of online resources and can point you in the right direction to get help- and the Scottish Tech Army made it happen.

The pandemic posed significant challenges for many businesses and organisations, including those essential to supporting people struggling with mental health issues. In a time with so many restrictions, emotional wellbeing became more important than ever before.

Ensuring people with additional support needs have prospects for the world of work, Babysteps 20+, a registered charity in Falkirk, enlisted the help of the Scottish Tech Army in order to help promote their social enterprise, a community shop selling pre-loved baby and toddler items.

Digital exclusion is one of the most invidious challenges we face in Scotland and although we all know that, it’s fair to say that we, as tech professionals, had little understanding of the implications digital exclusion has on individuals and the organisations trying to support them.

The Scottish Tech Army recently supported Bioregioning Tayside with a digital project to share the stories of their dedicated community and build connections with each other.

Bioregioning Tayside is a platform which brings people in Tayside together to build community resilience in the face of environmental issues such as global heating, animal and plant extinction, a broken economic model which fuels climate crisis and biodiversity collapse and can lead to increased social injustice and mental ill health.

The Scottish Tech Army recently supported angel investment club and network Mint Ventures to develop a web platform that would facilitate new member registration including payments functionality and applications for funding from entrepreneurs.

The Scottish Tech Army has been working closely with The Defence Gardens Scheme to develop and improve its new website. As DGS prepare to launch the website, we spoke with Founder and Managing Director, Sally Coulthard MBE and STA volunteer Lauren Kennedy to learn more about the project.

The Scottish Tech Army has been working closely with MHScot Workplace Wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic to help move their services online. 

The Scottish Tech Army teamed up with The National Library of Scotland to assist with a project that has so far resulted in the ability to search and access over 8 million open and free publications from Libraries via a new service https://opentexts.world/

Scottish Tech Army recently joined forces with Leith Community Pottery to assist with a website transformation after the project stalled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Leith Community Pottery is a social enterprise which provides access to expert pottery tuition to the community in Leith.   Places in classes and workshops are offered free of charge or for a voluntary donation to those living with mental health conditions, the marginalised, the isolated, those living with dementia, those with any physical health conditions likely to benefit from the gentle exercise involved in clay-work and other disenfranchised groups.  Leith Community Pottery receives referrals from NHS professionals and 3rd sector organisations, with whom they have strong links.

Live Music Now Scotland (LMNS) supports and trains young musicians at the start of their professional careers to perform a range of musical programmes to people in community and health care settings. Although the charity currently shares a website with its sister organisation in England and Wales, LMNS director Carol Main says that the Covid-19 crisis provided the catalyst to bring forward her plans for a standalone Scottish website.

As a venture philanthropy organisation supporting the voluntary sector to address deep-rooted social problems in Scotland, Inspiring Scotland supports over 300 charities across different portfolios through 13 managed funds. One of the programmes funded by the Scottish Government, intandem, matches volunteer mentors with young people between the ages of eight and fourteen who are looked after at home because of various challenges in their life.

Keeping track of PPE supplies is crucial for many organisations in the fight against Covid-19 especially charities like Aberdeen social care charity VSA. It supports over 20,000 vulnerable people, many of them in care homes, in 22 locations across the North-east of Scotland. When the pandemic struck, the VSA’s Deputy Chief Executive, John Booth, realised that their Health and Safety Manager would need more than an Excel spreadsheet to manage the distribution of supplies to meet the increased demand for PPE across their various sites.

Glasgow’s Govan Community Project is a charity that works with asylum seekers. When lockdown happened many of the people they support were unable to access any of the charity’s services online due to digital poverty. This means that people didn’t have access to suitable devices, Wi-Fi or 4G data. Although Traci Kirkland, the project’s Head of Charity, quickly raised funds as part of a digital inclusion project to buy smart phones and tablets to lend to people, there was not much capacity within the organisation to manage the devices manually.

Edinburgh Community Food is a social enterprise and registered charity that tackles health inequalities in low-income communities in and around Edinburgh. Their mission is to help people enjoy delicious, fresh, healthy food and making sure that everyone in the capital has access to an affordable, healthy diet. ECF work with partner organisations such Edinburgh City Council to provide food deliveries to those in need, have an e-commerce website offering food boxes, and supply local businesses and community organisations with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Young Enterprise Scotland (YES) is a Glasgow-based charity that works across Scotland with pupils in primary, secondary and tertiary education to inspire and equip them with entrepreneurial skills. Chief executive, Geoff Leask, always had a long-term strategy to move towards a more blended model of delivering their services, but with COVID-19 he says he’s been able to accelerate his plans with help from the Scottish Tech Army .

Even before lockdown began, Jean Duncan had seen the need for a charity to combat social isolation in her area. Seventy-year-old Jean, who lives in Gilmerton, got the idea after a visit to Erskine Edinburgh Nursing Home where she volunteers. One of the residents of the home, which cares for veterans and their spouses, said to Jean, ‘after we chat to you, we don’t feel so isolated.’

Get2gether is a charity that organises social activities in a safe environment for disabled people living in Edinburgh and the Lothians. When the charity had problems with its website it meant it was unable to communicate online with its 900 members.

Time to cll in the Scottish Tech Army