(l-r) Julie Robertson; Lorna Bruce, NHS Lanarkshire senior nurse mental health and learning disabilities; Lise Axford; Tracey Lochrie, Scottish Ambulance Service paramedic.

The DBI programme has recently helped its 1000th person.

Kevin O’Neill, national DBI programme manager, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and it means that over 1000 people have benefited from compassionate, connected support.

“Those who have received the DBI support show their levels of distress have halved and report experiencing very high levels of compassion, and feel they are working towards their own goals.”

Lise Axford, senior charge nurse at University Hospital Hairmyres emergency department (ED) said: “People can often present at the ED with an emotional pain which does not require an emergency service response.

“It can be caused by factors such as relationship issues, loneliness, bereavement, money and housing worries and life coping issues.

“Evidence shows these situations don’t always require specialist mental health services, but they do need some support.

“DBI now addresses this gap and while staff can and still do refer individuals who require specialist mental health and/or addiction services, they now also have this additional more appropriate option available to them.

“It’s fantastic to hear that those who receive the support now feel more able to manage their current distress and are more confident about managing any future distress.”

Inspector Julie Robertson, the Police Scotland lead for the DBI pilot, said: “We’re delighted to be part of this fantastic programme.

“It’s been very well received by our officers who feel more equipped to support people in distress.

“They have been delighted to see that everyone who is referred for DBI support is contacted within 24 hours with 80 per cent going on to receive further support.”

Jill Fletcher from the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “Ultimately we hope the programme will help reduce the number of people presenting to emergency services as a result of distress by providing them with this additional support.

“It could also help us better identify mental health, social and substance misuse problems and reduce self-harm and suicide.”

The DBI approach is also being tested in some primary care settings, including out of hours, staff.