Residents of the Orkney Islands will be able to borrow a Wintering Well Box from their local library, once the clocks go back on Sunday 26 October and the days become shorter.
The boxes contain a therapeutic lamp to help counteract the negative effects of low light levels on mental health during the darkest period of the year, along with a guidebook with tips on simple indoor and outdoor activities which can help develop a healthy new winter routine.
Light therapies
They also offer access to a free online course helping users tackle the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
Orkney Library Services’ mobile library van, known locally as ‘Booky McBookface’, will help distribute the boxes across the Orkney Islands, where residents experience less than six hours of daylight by midwinter.
Wintering well
The introduction of the boxes to Orkney marks a significant expansion of the Wintering Well programme – developed by researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, in partnership with people who suffer from SAD.
According to the Royal College of Psychiatry, more than a million people across Britain experience symptoms of SAD, including emotional challenges, lowered mood and feelings of anxiety.
However, they often have very limited access to social or medical support to help them through the winter, experts say.
Successful pilot
The box-loan concept was successfully introduced in libraries across Greater Glasgow in 2024, through an award-winning research partnership with East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture.
More than 200 loans with 349 renewals were recorded by the library service, and the research team’s evaluation of the programme showed overwhelmingly positive feedback from users.
Libraries across East Dunbartonshire are running the scheme again this year and will share their Wintering Well boxes with Orcadians.
Interest in the project has also crossed the Irish Sea, with Dublin’s library services also set to trial a version of the same scheme this coming winter.
BBC programme
Living with SAD is also the inspiration for a new five-part radio series, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. ‘Winter Well’ is presented by Professor Hayden Lorimer, Chair of Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh, and is available on BBC Sounds.
The distribution of Wintering Well Boxes via library services in the UK and Ireland is an initiative funded by a grant from UKRI’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.