Company history
Birchwood Highland is a voluntary organisation with charitable status, established in June 1987 to work with people with mental health problems. Derek Bigg was elected as Chairman in July that year, and Helen E Betts-Brown was appointed as Director in October.
In February 1988 the first support workers were appointed, operating from a base at Inshes, Inverness, providing services for persons in 'supported housing'.
In 1994, a similar service was set up in Easter Ross. This was followed in 1996 by the establishment of a team in Lochaber, and in 2004 by one in Caithness.
Another event in 1994 was the establishment of a care home in Inverness. This was named Birchwood House and it provided nursing and residential care for former residents of Craig Dunain Hospital.
Starting in 2007 Birchwood House underwent major renovations, transforming it into a modern mental health recovery centre. Birchwood Highland Recovery Centre as it is now known was formally opened in March 2008 by Shona Robison MSP, Minister for Public Health, providing accommodation for up to 22 people in single rooms, studio apartments and flats.
Today, Birchwood Highland's teams of nursing and support worker staff are dedicated to helping adults and young persons with mental ill-health along the path to recovery.
The picture shows Shona Robison MSP, Minister for Public Health, opening the new Recovery Centre in March 2008.