At the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust we produce booklets and posters on many
aspects of mental health. These are free to download or order and include our
Parent’s Guide to Depression.
Mental health problems in children and young people, national and local organisations that offer guidance for parents leaflet Parents leaflet Somerset Printable version

An exciting club for young people with additional needs aged 10 to 17. Trips out. Have fun. Make friends. Tuesdays 6.00pm-8.00pm at Vallis Youth & Community Centre, Frome, BA11 3EF.  Call us to discuss places as they are limited.

Are you a young carer? If you’re aged between 10 and 18 then please come along to the Zone and meet new friends who are in the same boat!  Wednesdays 6.00pm-8.00p.m. Fortnightly at Park Road support Centre, Frome, BA11 1EU.   Please contact us to discuss a place as places are limited.

This is a social group for people with additional needs aged between 18 to 30 where you can make friends, learn new skills, and have fun!  Mondays 7.00pm-9.00pm at the HUBnub Centre, Whittox Lane, Frome, BA11 3BY.  Places are limited so please contact us to book.

Explore your creativity through drama and prop making, create short plays and work towards performances, meet new people in a fun, relaxed environment!
For 15-25 year olds, £5.00 per person. We meet fortnightly on a Tuesday from 4.30pm-6.30pm at the HUBnub Centre, Whittox Lane, Frome, BA11 3BY.  Contact Jade for more information.

StayingSafe.net offers compassion, kindness and easy ways to help keep people safer from thoughts of harm and suicide, seek support and discover hope of recovery through powerful videos from people with personal experience. The website provides vital ‘Safety Plan’ guidance tool, with easy to print / online templates and guidance video tutorials purposefully designed to help people through the process of writing their own Safety Plan to build hope, identify actions and strategies to resist suicidal thoughts and develop positive ways to cope with stress and emotional distress.

We are an independent charity offering the support of long term volunteer mentors to vulnerable young people in Somerset.  PROMISEworks matches young people between the ages of 5 and 25.  Referral criteria include: Offending behaviour, Mental Health Issues, Substance Misuse, Domestic Abuse, Leaving Care, Adoption Support, CSE Risk, Exclusion from School, Disabilities.

MAKE course – Young adults aged 18-35 including those who are out of work, looking for a new direction and who want to gain confidence. Spend 3 weeks in a team learning to design, make and sell products made from raw materials such as metal, wood, fabric, silver and leather. Students work with a local maker to create things to sell at the Frome Independent Market. See the website for the course times and booking form. FREE.

After the course young people can leave the course with very different ideas of what they’d like to do next. We offer MAKE students a selection of opportunities after the course finishes. What we can offer includes mentoring, coaching, workspace, workshops and group meet-ups and in exchange we ask for you to do some volunteering for Edventure.

Come along to the Routes Drop-in Centre at 1a Palmer Street, Frome, BA11 1DS for help with the following:
-Universal credit, work commitments and to do lists.
-Job searching & applications, and preparing your CV.
-Looking for volunteering opportunities
When: Mondays and Thursdays 2.00pm-4:30pm.  For more information please contact Sue Crisfield, Drop in Centre Team Leader.

Charity dedicated to bowel and bladder health of all children and teenagers in the UK providing support and information including leaflets for downloading.

Youth With A Future (YWAF) work alongside other organisations to support young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and those in supported housing projects in the Mendip area of Somerset and also supports local positive youth initiatives and activities.

YOU-TH SPACE is a new FREE counselling service in Frome for 15 to 18 year olds.  We’re free, we’re friendly, we won’t judge and we’re local. Angry, scared, anxious?  Problems with friends, family, school, being bullied, or feel different to others?  These are just some of the things you could come to us with.  Contact form on the website if you prefer.

HOPELineUK is a confidential support and advice service for:
– Young people under the age of 35 who may be having thoughts of suicide
– Anyone concerned a young person may be having thoughts of suicide.
A HOPELineUK advisor will hear about the things that are happening in your life that are contributing to your thoughts of suicide and provide advice about how you can cope with your thoughts of suicide, or where you can access help. You can also speak to our HOPELineUK advisors to get advice about how to start a conversation about suicide with someone you are concerned about, and how to best support them. Opening hours are 10am-10pm weekdays, 2pm-10pm weekends, and 2pm-5pm Bank Holidays. 

Kooth.com is a free, safe, confidential and non-stigmatised way for young people to receive counselling, advice and support on-line. Kooth delivers thousands of counselling sessions each year to young people aged 11-18. Available until 10pm each night, 365 days per year. Free.
A young person can access Kooth by going to www.kooth.com and signing up to use its features.

Youth Matters is for young people aged up to 25 who are living with mental health distress in Mendip. Young people can have one to one targeted mental health support in a warm, safe environment. You may want to talk to an adult who understands how you feel and can support you without judging you. We offer practical help such as writing a job application form or help with abstaining from addiction. Whatever the situation we can help you access information or help you find other forms of support, provide guidance, reassurance and support.
The project is based in Frome and is held in Routes Cafe 11.00am-2.00pm. Please contact South Somerset MIND for details. You can be referred to us by someone else or contact us direct. A self referral form can be downloaded from our website or you can call the office or email.

Whatever you need to know about coping with stress, anxiety or depression, or just the normal emotional ups and downs of life, the NHS Choices Moodzone is here to help. Follow link below.

It offers practical advice, interactive tools, videos and audio guides to help you feel mentally and emotionally better.

An online information hub offering young people advice and help on mental health problems including depression, anxiety and stress.

For 18 – 24 year olds.  Develop Skills in growing your own food and with teamwork. Mondays 9.30am – 3.30pm near Balstonsborough. Please call for more information.

Mindline Trans+ is a confidential helpline for people who identify as Trans, non-binary or
gender fluid that provides a safe place to talk about feelings confidentially and receive
signposting to appropriate services and support.

Operating Mondays and Fridays 8 pm – midnight, run by Trans volunteers.

If you are a child in care you could ask for an advocate if you are worried or upset about something, or if things are changing for you – perhaps you are moving placements or going to a new school. You could also have an advocate come with you to your review or other meetings about you. Advocates can also help you if you want make a complaint or resolve an issue.

Talk to us any time you like, in your own way, and off the record about whatever’s getting to you. You don’t have to be suicidal. We know a lot about what can help you through tough times. We can help you explore your options, understand your problems better, or just be there to listen.

It doesn’t matter who you are, how you feel, or what has happened. If you feel that things are getting to you, get in touch. We’re here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Local branches have different opening hours for face to face support. Find your local branches and numbers below

Yeovil: 25 The Park, Yeovil, Somerset, BA20 1DG
Bath and District: 25 Windsor Castle, Upper Bristol Road, Bath, BA1 3DH
Taunton and Somerset: 16 Wood Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1UN
Bristol: 37 St Nicholas Street, Bristol, BS1 1TP

Call or check website for hours open to receive callers at the door.

LifeHacks is a new web based resource for a series of practical tips and ideas, developed by young people, to help promote and support young people to look after their own, and their friends mental health. Resource booklets, posters and postcard examples can be found on the website along with details on how to obtain them.

At Connect Counselling our team of experienced Counsellors provide services to people and families in and around our community.  The service is open to adults from aged 18 upwards. We ask for a contribution to counselling cost per session which is negotiable.Connect Counselling can be accessed through our Street Level Programme or by contacting us directly

The Wessex Counselling Service offers professional and affordable counselling to people around Frome, Bath, Bristol and Street. Bursary Fund – Our charitable aim is to provide high quality psychodynamic counselling but at affordable rates from our centres in Frome and Bristol. We acknowledge that some people cannot afford to pay our fees. We aim to maintain a Bursary Fund which enables clients in hardship to access time limited counselling at subsidised rates. Wessex works with adults and also have counsellors experienced in working with children and young people through the Changing Course for Young People Project for those aged 15 – 18 years. Wessex Counselling Service, Fairfield House, King Street, Frome, BA11 1BH

Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service offers free, confidential advice and support to anyone whose life is being adversely affected by drug and/or alcohol use. They offer help to anyone whatever their age, as well as their partners, other family members and friends. You can contact the service on our 24/7 service number below or drop into your nearest local SDAS Hub.

Frome Hub: Arch House, 12, Palmer Street, Frome, BA11 1DS.
Opening times: Monday to Friday, 9.00am – 5.00pm, Late opening: Tuesday 9.00am – 7.00pm.

Outreach service in Wells: The Resource Room, Aster Group, Flourish House, 2 Cathedral Ave, Wells, BA5 1FD
Opening times: Tuesday mornings 9.00 – 1.00 pm (You can drop in , or make an appointment)
Report to Reception and you will be directed from there.

To report someone sleeping rough, call the number below, calls are confidential. We aim to visit people referred to the service within 2 working days. Please provide as much detail as possible about the individual to help us make contact with them.

Offering a wide range of services to those affected by eating disorders in Somerset and the surrounding counties. Having an eating disorder or supporting someone who has can be a painful and distressing experience. For more information and support for yourself or somebody you know who has been affected by an eating disorder, visit our website or phone us on the number below 9.00am – 5.00pm Tuesday – Thursday (answer phone available outside these times).

TEL: 01749 343344

SWEDA run a monthly self-help group on the first Wednesday of every month from 7-8:30 p.m. This group is open to anyone suffering from an eating disorder or anyone supporting someone with an eating disorder.  The monthly meetings are held in our comfortable meeting room at The Coach House, Harvest Court, Park Road, Shepton Mallet, BA4 5BS

We offer a confidential place to come to talk through your worries. We give supportive help for those facing a crisis pregnancy, or needing specialist post-abortion or baby loss recovery support, or for pregnancy related issues. Please ring for an appointment. [Partners or relatives are most welcome if you wish.] We cover these areas Glastonbury, Wells, Street, Bridgwater, Frome, Shepton Mallet, Weston-Super-Mare, Bath, Wincanton and Castle Cary.
We’re open Monday to Saturday for appointments only. Please ring and leave a message, or send an email, and we’ll get back to you discretely to arrange an appointment at a convenient time – our answer-phone is checked daily.

If you’re a young person living in Somerset you may find that being lesbian, gay or bisexual or questioning your sexuality can be difficult.

The 2BU website is here to help give you some answers and some support if you feel you want it. As well as helping you get some answers 2BU runs a youth support group for 14 – 18 year olds and it meets each week on a Wednesday.

We will soon be launching an 18-24 year olds group. The groups will cover the county of Somerset and meet in Taunton. We can help with funding public transport costs if you live in other parts of the county. It’s a great opportunity to meet other young people like you.

There is also a login area of the website that enables young people access to a member’s area. It lets them communicate in a safe secure area, where group activities and information specific for the group is hosted. If you wish to contact us, or you are a LGB (or Trans) young person and would like to join the youth group or find out more about it, please contact us.

Intercom Trust is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans+ charity working across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and the wider South West, providing:

• Help and Support
• Advocacy
• Counselling
• Training
• Information
• Support Groups
• Online Directory
• Community Surveys
• Conferences
• Consultancy

Local groups in the Somerset area can be found via this page:

https://www.intercomtrust.org.uk/directory/somerset/

Somerset-Wide Integrated Sexual Health Service for young women & men in Somerset the website is designed especially for young people in Somerset. We hope the website gives you the information you need, whether you are just browsing or looking to access information and services in a bit of a hurry. It tells you where to find information and support about many aspects of sexual health including contraception, unplanned pregnancy and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

They offer free confidential testing and treatment for all sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and offer a full range of contraception. They are open to all ages including under 16’s. You can visit any SWISH Service, locally or further afield, however not all clinics run a full service at this time, so please ring to find out what is available.

(MIU) West Mendip Hospital – Old Wells Road, Glastonbury BA6 8JD
Open daily 7.00am – 11pm (Last patient admission 10.30pm)
Emergency Contraception and Chlamydia screening

Crispin School – Church Road Street BA16 0AD
Tuesday lunch time

St Dunstan’s Community School – Wells Road, Glastonbury BA6 9BY
Wednesday lunch time. Students only in term time

Strode College Young People’s Clinic –Near the refectory in the first aid room Strode Road Street BA16 0AS
Mondays 12.30 – 2pm
This clinic is run by a SWISH Services Nurse or Doctor Students only in term time

SWISH Glastonbury – Somerset Wide Integrated Sexual Health Service at Glastonbury Dental Clinic, Wells Road BA6 9DD
Wednesdays 1.15pm – 4.15pm by appointment, please call 0300 124 5010

The Blue School, Wells – ‘Drop In @ Blue’, The Blue School, Wells BA5 2NR
Monday lunch time. Students only in term time

Young People’s Clinic – Glastonbury Surgery Feversham Lane Glastonbury BA6 9LP
Thursday 4.30pm – 5.30pm
Please telephone the surgery during normal working hours to make an appointment 01458 833666.

(MIU) Frome Community Hospital (walk in) – Enos Way, Frome BA11 2FH
Daily 8.00am – 11.00pm (Last patient admitted 10.30pm)
Emergency Contraception and Chlamydia screening available

(MIU) Shepton Mallet Community Hospital (Walk In) Old Wells Road, Shepton Mallet BA4 4PG
8am – 8.00pm (Last patient admission 7.30pm)
Emergency Contraception and Chlamydia screening available

Frome Community College – Frome BA11 2HQ
Thursday 1.20pm – 2pm (Drop in)
Thursday 2.00pm – 3.30pm (Appointments)

Grove House Surgery Shepton Mallet BA4 5UH
Wednesday 3.30 – 4.30pm
This clinic is run by a school nurse. Drop in.

Mind Line Somerset is a confidential listening service giving a safe place to talk if you, or someone you know, is in distress. We can also give basic information about mental health and local services.

Opening times Wednesday, Friday – Sunday 8.00pm – 12.00 midnight. When our lines are busy, or closed, our switchboard can connect you to our sister service, Wand (0808 800 0312) or the Samaritans. The result is that any caller can speak to a call handler 24 hours a day/7 days a week – which we feel is a truly valuable service.

MindEd is a free educational resource for all adults on children and young people’s mental health.

This area of the Somerset Children and Young People’s Health & Wellbeing website provides support to schools, colleges and Somerset ‘getset’ services about mental health and emotional health & wellbeing. It brings together key information and recommended websites for staff working with children and young people in Somerset.

Mendip YMCA works with vulnerable people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. We will work to try and reconcile young people with their parents to reduce the risk of them becoming homeless and securing a return home should the relationship have broken down. In addition we work with people who hold tenancies and support them to sustain them by liaising with key agencies and signposting when necessary.
Emergency Accommodation – Mendip YMCA can help with emergency accommodation for homeless 16 to 25 year olds.
Family Mediation – Mendip YMCA can work with young people (aged 16 – 25) and their parents / guardians / householder / when there is a risk of homelessness.
Resettlement Support – This scheme receives referrals from Referral Agencies for 16 – 25 year olds who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and in need of support. There are branches in: Headquarters The Old Glasshouse, South Street, Wells, Somerset, BA5 1SL and

Routes One Stop Shop Frome – Routes is managed by Mendip YMCA. The project enables direct access to information, advice, support and learning opportunities for young people and is situated in 1a Palmer Street, Frome (at the Foyer). We are able to signpost young people to a wide range of services, e.g. housing, activities, employment, and training whilst providing support, help and guidance for young people 11-25 years old to reach goals and fulfil their full potential.

Frome Youth and Community Centre Painting Party Saturday 20th January 2018 for details contact Louise on 01749 679553

A service for 16-25 year olds provided in partnership with the YMCA and housing consortium.  For the Mendip area please see phone number and email address below.

– PFSA work in and are managed by schools, referrals need to come via the students year head or school SENCO of the school where your child attends. PFSAs work with both the child and the family by supporting parents with the positive parenting program (PPP), housing, benefits, taking parents or students to appointments, help with form filling etc. We support young people with attendance, behaviour, self-esteem, confidence building, bullying, funding for trips and uniform or supporting them to find groups to join. PFSAs work with students that may struggle with transition between schools. CAMHS and CSC refer to the PFSAs through schools on a regular basis as children do not always meet their threshold. If a family would like some support then they can call their child’s school and request -support from the PFSA.

National Express, Senior Coach Card, Disabled Coach Card and Young Persons Coach Card give a third off standard fares. Coach Card costs £10 a year.

In Somerset there is a Young Carers Project that exists to provide support, advice and respite breaks for children and young people aged 8 – 18 who have substantial caring responsibilities at home. This could be a parent, grandparent, brother, sister or other relative. Care may be needed for the relative because they have a • A disability• Poor physical health• Poor mental health• An addiction to alcohol or other substances.  You need a referral to use this service and Somerset Direct is the first port of call.

If you are affected or have been bereaved by cancer or another life threatening illness, We Hear You provides free, professional counselling (also on-line counselling). We support children, young people and adults in Mendip from our various locations including Frome Town Hall, Christchurch Street West. We also work in various locations across the area including, The Royal United Hospital Bath, Bradford On Avon, Midsomer Norton, Street, Trowbridge and Warminster.

WHY is also running a new therapeutic support group for those living with and beyond cancer (LWBC) in Frome.   The groups run for between 10 – 12 weeks. 10.30 – midday at our offices in Frome Town Hall. The aim of the LWBC group is to support those who have experienced cancer through therapeutic discussions and conversations.  We have no more than 10 people in the group which is facilitated by two WHY counsellors. Anyone who is interested should contact WHY on 01373 455255