Somerset Cricket Foundation are working alongside the Sporting Memories Foundation to launch a new programme; Sporting Memories. This new community initiative aims to bring people of retirement age together to reminisce about previous memories, experiences or moments in their lives through the power of sport. Sports memorabilia, past sporting events, physical activities, quizzes and guest speakers are used to create discussions around sporting events and memories.
The initiative is open to MEN only aged 50 and over, and is primarily designed to support those living with early on set dementia, depression and loneliness – and their families – and those wishing to talk about sport with like-minded people.
Sessions will take place at Bridgwater Cricket Club, The Parks, Durleigh Road, Bridgwater, TA6 7HR.
For more information about upcoming sessions and to register your interest, please visit the Somerset Cricket Foundation website here, or get in touch with Steve Gass using the contact details below.
Open to adults from across Taunton and wider Somerset, the sessions work especially well for people who have experienced mental or emotional distress, who feel isolated, need time to reflect on life, and those trying to build skills to get moving in life again.
For more information about upcoming session blocks, get in touch with Jenny by calling 07541 080397 or emailing jenny@nerochewoodlanders.org
Tellmi is a safe, anonymous app for young people where you can talk about absolutely anything. From anxiety to autism, dating to depression, or self-harm to self-esteem, sharing your experiences with their awesome community helps you to feel better.
Moderators check everything to keep their users safe and their in-house counsellors are always on hand for those who need extra support.
Find out more and download the app by visiting the link below.
Happy Mojos is a way of life. As a children’s activity provider in Somerset, Happy Mojos use creative play to help support the mental wellbeing of children. In their classes and clubs, children have fun in an environment where they can be still, loud, active, creative and mindful, whilst feeling empowered, nurtured, supported, encouraged and respected.
Their fun and creative play sessions give children the confidence to cope with life around them. They learn how to understand emotions and express themselves; building positive relationships with others, whilst having the best time!
Happy Mojos offer school holiday and after school clubs in Somerset. Visit their website to find out more or find a group near you.
Somerset Skills & Learning (SSL) help people make positive changes to their lives, through learning.
Working across Somerset, SSL provide adult education, apprenticeships and traineeships, as well as offering skills and qualifications. They also invest heavily in community projects to help disadvantaged groups to improve their lives through learning.
SSL are hosting a number of Health & Wellbeing courses and workshops on a number of topics, including mindfulness, diets for diabetes, yoga and anxiety awareness.
To see the full list of courses available, visit the links below and select the “Health & Wellbeing” category.
Courses are free, providing you meet SSL’s eligability criteria. See individual course pages for details.
April – Health & Wellbeing courses
May – Health & Wellbeing courses
June – Health & Wellbeing courses
If you have any questions, contact SSL on the details below.
There are small things we can all do to help be kind to your mind, and these can make a big difference to how we feel.
Better Health – Every Mind Matters is an NHS online resource with links to tips, advice and support on mental health, coping with life’s challenges, general wellbeing tips and more.
Unbreakable Men brings together Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership (SASP) and Open Mental Health (OMH) to help raise awareness around men’s mental health in Somerset. They aim to actively encourage men to take ownership over their wellbeing, whilst positively impacting their mental and physical wellbeing through physical activity. This is done in simple and practical ways with both online and face-to-face physical activities.
You can check your mental health by taking their ‘Mental Health MOT Quiz’, join the Unbreakable Men Facebook group to be a part of the community, or sign up via email to receive updates on upcoming events, sessions and other news.
For more information, visit the website or get in touch using the details below.
Somerset Nature Connections project aims to tackle some of the barriers that prevent people experiencing the health and wellbeing benefits of Somerset’s spectacular natural environment. Somerset Nature Connections helps people to access these natural spaces, with a focus on supporting mental wellbeing and physical activity.
Their free Nature and Wellbeing courses explore the 5 Pathways to Nature Connectedness – contact, beauty, emotion, compassion and meaning – and are for anyone who is feeling socially isolated and/or experiencing mild to moderate depression, low mood, anxiety or stress.
To find a course near you, visit their website.
Heads Up provides Day Services to individuals experiencing Mental Health issues, including Dementia.
In recent years they have developed an Outreach service with a team who are community based. Through creative activity workshops, Head Up provide support to enable individuals to establish links to their local community and through learning, gain new skills, develop self-knowledge and tools for personal wellbeing. This enables them to access opportunities, spend time with others and build social networks and to build an awareness of a broad range of social, educational, employment and life choices.
Heads Up are based in Wells and day care costs £35.00 per day.
For more information, visit their website or get in touch using the details below.
Somerset Talking Therapies have a website where you will find information on guides to self help that can help you to overcome common mental health problems and links to other information and advice that could be helpful.
Covering anxiety, depression, PTSD and other long-term health conditions, Talking Therapies have advice for you.
Why volunteer with the British Red Cross?
Volunteer with the British Red Cross to help vulnerable people and make a difference in your community.
There are volunteering roles to suit everyone, no matter how much time you have to give and whatever your experience.
You can volunteer in some of the services from age 15 and there are opportunities for young people to get involved with their work.
To find a volunteer role near you, visit the website below.
The NHS website has a wealth of information for those struggling with mental health. Visit their pages for information, self help tips, advice for life events, and your rights regarding mental health and social care.
Stepladder has been set up for all men in Somerset. The project is delivered by Second Step and funded by Somerset County Council and aims to reduce the number of men who take their own life. They work with communities, groups and organisations across Somerset to find new ways men can connect, support each other and get help.
If you want to know more about their community development work across Somerset or you’d like to share your experiences and expertise, please get in touch.
The Somerset Recovery College is hosted by Somerset Partnership NHS Trust for the wellbeing of people in Somerset.
Their students are people with lived experience of mental health difficulties, their family and friends, and the professionals who support them.
Their courses are open access for Somerset residents over the age of 18 and are free of charge. You do not need a referral from a health professionals and students do not have to be using mental health services to access any of the courses as long as they have a interest in mental health and recovery is genuine.
To view Somerset Recovery College’s upcoming courses, go to their website.
Barnardo’s are offering support to men who want help around anger management and are concerned about violence and abuse within their intimate relationships. The group is ideal for men who want to improve their current or future relationships. Many men come to the group because they also want to improve their relationships and support for their children and the Reprovide programme has a strong focus on this.
Our FREE groups run weekly on Wednesday evenings in Taunton and Thursday evening near Shepton Mallet.
Those who have completed the programme report that the support group was friendly and gave them a safe and confidential space to talk about many difficult issues. For many men the group helps them to build and sustain positive relationships and to improve their mental health.
There is no requirement to fill in any referral forms.
Rethink’s groups are run by volunteers, many of who have lived experience of mental illness either personally or in a caring role. There are over one hundred and forty groups meeting across the country and every one of them is unique because they grow and develop according to the needs and aspirations of those who use them.
What they have in common is the support, understanding and acceptance one can only get from someone who has been where you are.
To find services or support in your area, visit the link below.
Open Mental Health is an alliance of local voluntary organisations, the NHS and social care, Somerset County Council, and individuals with lived experience of mental health. They are working together to improve the way people in Somerset receive support with their mental health by providing access to a number of specialist services including NHS support, housing advice, debt and employment advice, volunteering opportunities, community activities, peer support and local exercise groups.
They want to ensure that people in Somerset get the right support when they need it most.
Their shared ambition is to ensure that people living with mental health problems get the right support at the right time. Working together, they support people to live a full life, by enabling access to specialist mental health services, housing support, debt and employment advice, volunteering opportunities, peer support, community activities and physical exercise, to help support and improve their well-being and quality of life.
They provide a number of support services for adults across Somerset including:
By working together in partnership, Open Mental Health want to ensure that there is ‘no wrong door’ for anyone who needs help.
The Mind in Somerset Sedgemoor Community Support Project offers support to residents old and new, living in Sedgemoor and West Somerset. We recognise that as communities grow and change there can be pressures and stresses such as isolation and loneliness, housing and employment which can affect mental health and wellbeing.
We offer a 1:1 “drop – in” support service in our Bridgwater office with local 1:1 support meetings around Sedgemoor and West Somerset. We provide a safe space to discuss these stresses. We support access to specialist mental health services, debt and employment advice, community activities and opportunities to improve mental health and wellbeing.
With partner organisations and other local support services we offer community awareness days around the region.
Our “drop-in” sessions are available at: Mind In Somerset, Bridgwater Town Hall, High St, Bridgwater, TA6 3AS.
Other times are by appointment and in other venues around Sedgemoor and West Somerset.
Crisis Safe Space is an out-of-hours service provided by Mind in Somerset and Second Step for anyone who feels like they are really struggling with their mental health. Instead of going to A&E, making an urgent doctor’s appointment, or suffering in silence, you can arrange a one-to-one session with a member of the Crisis Safe Space, who will be willing to listen and be able to help you. Sessions are being held either face-to-face or virtually depending on the location.
You can refer yourself or someone you are worried about via the website below.
You can also call Mindline Somerset to book a session, call locally on 01823 276892 or freephone 0800 138 1692.
Mind in Somerset is an independent charity that is proud to be affiliated with the national Mind network.
Mind in Somerset aims to promote good mental health and wellbeing, to provide a voice, and champion a greater understanding of mental health issues in the community, whilst operating to the highest standards of governance and best practice.
Their core purpose is to provide services and support to anyone affected by or vulnerable to mental illness, improving their quality of life and wellbeing.
For more information about local services in Sedgemoor, visit the website or get in touch via the details below.
Somerset Counselling Centre (SCC) provides a safe space to talk to a skilled counsellor, who will listen and help you understand how past experiences, worries about the future, or lack of self-confidence may be affecting your life. They offer flexibility; providing counselling in-person, online and over the phone.
Counselling helps you explore the way you think and act; to see how you may be repeating unhelpful patterns of behaviour or thinking. SCC’s counsellors come from a range of different trainings and incorporate a variety of counselling models including psychodynamic, person centred, integrative and humanistic.
Whether you’re looking for individual counselling, relationship counselling or counselling for a young person, SCC will enable you to get help with problems that may seem too difficult to share with anyone else.
For more information, visit their website or get in contact on the details below.
The Space offers no charge play therapy and counselling to young people aged 4-17 years for children and young people who live or who are educated in the Cheddar Valley area. They have an allotment well-being plot, and offer out-of-term activities by way of outdoor pursuits or creative arts.
To find out more, visit the website below or view their Facebook page.
Young Somerset provide Targeted Youth Support for Young People which includes:
Young Somerset also provide Mental Health and Wellbeing Support for Children, Young People and Parents, which includes:
For more information about any of their services, visit the website or get in touch on the contact details below.
Seed of Hope CIC are a Not-For-Profit Social Enterprise helping people with mental health problems to change their lives through recovery based Social and Therapeutic Horticulture.
They currently run three therapeutic groups: Bridgwater, Watchet and Glastonbury. They also have a volunteer community gardening team made up of members from the therapeutic groups.
Each session consists of a six-hour day of mixed horticulture activities and projects, gentle yoga and recovery group.
In Charley’s Memory is a Highbridge-based counselling service that offers 1:1 support for children and young people aged 11-25 who might be struggling with their mental health, and have recently expanded their services to help support anyone aged 26+.
They aim to make support services more accessible to young people who might be suffering with issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders or suicidal thoughts. They also strive to advance education and knowledge around mental health in the wider community.
If you feel you or a loved one needs help, then please get in contact by phone or email to arrange a initial assessment, or visit their website for more information.
The Cheddar Valley Singers are a community singing group of friendly, welcoming ladies. Their main aim is singing for enjoyment, but they like to work on improving their singing skills along the way.
The group is led by Kate Lynch, a voice teacher for both children and adults, who believes in the health and mood-boosting benefits of singing.
The group meets weekly on Mondays at the Cheddar Catholic Community Hall from 7pm – 8.15pm. New members are welcome to come and try the group out – no audition necessary!
There is a £5 fee per session.
FCT Somerset delivers low-cost counselling services for children & young people aged 4-18 and their families in Somerset. Sessions are with qualified and experienced psychological therapists and start from as low as £5.
FCT Somerset is currently accepting referrals from GPs, schools & other professionals working with children, as well as from parents, carers and families. Please visit their website to request help or email flo-somerset@familycounsellingtrust.org.
SANE runs a national, out of hours mental health helpline offering specialist emotional support and information to anyone affected by mental illness, including family, friends and carers.
The lines are open every day of the year from 4pm – 10pm.
Positive People offers a lifeline to people who are not in work, no matter what the reason. It can help build confidence, skills and give people a sense of hope for their future.
The programme offers 1:1 support to help people move forward with life, and can help people get involved with new and exciting activities to help build confidence and meet new people. It also provides free specialised support towards overcoming barriers to work such as anxiety or isolation issues, access to benefits, housing, financial or other health issues.
The programme is open to anyone over 18 who is out of work. You can access this service without a referral.
The Veterans’ Gateway service is the first point of contact for all Tri-Service veterans, and their families. Its expert content covers welfare areas: housing, employment, finances, living independently, mental wellbeing, families and communities, and physical health.
The Veterans’ Gateway offer is enabled by a consortium of Armed Forces charities, and organisations, including Royal British Legion, SSAFA, Combat Stress and Poppy Scotland. To ensure they offer support at all levels, Veteran’s Gate collaborate with key referral partners, Information organisations and Local support.
For support over the phone, call 0808 802 1212, text 81212 or visit their website.
HOPELINEUK advisers want to work with you to understand why thoughts of suicide might be present. They also want to provide you with a safe space to talk through anything happening in your life that could be impacting on your or anyone else’s ability to stay safe.
The helpline is free and confidential and is available from 9am – midnight 365 days a year.
The Miscarriage Association is a free service that provides support and information to anyone effected by miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy.
They offer a helpline, a livechat, telephone and email support services, and have a UK-wide network of support volunteers who have experienced pregnany loss themselves that run support groups online or in-person.
For more information, visit their website or call the helpline listed below.
The helpline is staffed Monday – Friday from 9am to 4pm.
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.
Mindline Trans+ provides a safe place to talk about your feelings confidentially. They don’t record calls and they don’t ask for any personal details. You don’t have to tell us your name.
Their listeners will try and understand the multitude of feelings and concerns that may be going on for you.
The Mindline Trans+ volunteers are trained in telephone counselling skills and have lived experience of being trans or non-binary. Occasionally calls may be taken by trans allies.
Phonelines are open Mondays & Fridays from 8pm – midnight.
Carers of people with mental health problems (this includes dementia) who are registered as a patient/client with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust can request a carers’ assessment and access specialist carers’ services and ongoing support provided by the Trust.
This service supports unpaid carers and family members to ensure that they feel valued and supported, empowering them to begin to take control of their lives. We provide a comprehensive range of services for carers which include Carers Assessment Workers, Carers Employment Support Officer, Carers Education Courses, Carers Support Groups, Carers Website, Carers Newsletter, Carers Info Packs, Carers Participation Group, Information and Advice about Carers Breaks and Carers emergency cards. Carers can be referred or self-refer for a Carers Assessment providing the person that they support is registered with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Contact – Caroline Mead, The Bridge, Glastonbury Road, Wells, BA5 1TJ
Somerset Partnership have produced self help information leaflets on a number of topics. See link below to their website where you can find their leaflets on topics such as anxiety, anger, depression, low mood, eating disorders, OCD, panic, self harm, shyness and social anxiety and stress.
The South West Advocacy Network (SWAN) work with people from all walks of life and have already supported thousands of the most disadvantaged and marginalised people in the South West, helping them to have their voices heard and their choices respected by those that are making decisions about their future.
Since 1999, SWAN have developed a high-quality model of advocacy which ensures the most vulnerable members of society have the same rights and opportunities as their fellow citizens. They believe that everyone has the same right to be heard, be in control of making choices, and to be safe from violence and abuse.
Their services are free, confidential and non-judgmental, with an approached focussed on empowering individuals in making decisions, promoting independence as much as possible.
Their Statutory Advocacy Services aim to support anyone under the Care Act, the Mental Health act and anyone requiring and Independent Mental Capacity Advocate.
To find out more, get in touch using the details below.
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.
To find information about your local branch, search the map here.
CYPSomerset is the Somerset Children & Young People Health & Wellbeing website, hosted by Public Health’s Children and Young People’s Team, to support schools, colleges and Early Years settings – or anyone else that works with or cares for young people – to improve their health and wellbeing.
Their new LifeHacks initiative is an online resource that offers downloadable PDF resources such as posters and books that are packed with ideas and tips on how children and young people can look after their mental health.
SWEDA offer 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 their website or phone them on the number below, Monday to Thursday 9am – 5pm (please leave a message on the answerphone and someone will call you back).
Talking Therapies offer a wide range of treatments for adults 18 years of age and over who are registered with a GP surgery in the Somerset area, in a variety of different ways. Their aim is that the therapies should intrude as little as possible in your everyday life, but still have the best chance of delivering positive outcomes for you.
You can make a self referral to Talking Therapies if you are:
• Experiencing depression, anxiety or PTSD
• Over 18 years old
• Ready to start working on your problems and able to attend regular appointments
• Registered with a GP in Somerset, see the map above
• Not currently receiving support from other mental health services.
If you are registered with a GP outside of Somerset please contact your GP and ask to be referred to your local Talking Therapies service or use this link to find a service local to you Find a Psychological Therapies Service.
MindEd is for you if you work, volunteer or are studying to work with infants, children, teenagers or adults and older people. MindEd has elearning applicable across the health, social care, education, criminal justice and community settings. It is aimed at anyone from beginner through to specialist. View their Session Brochure to see their full catalogue of elearning sessions.
The MindEd Tips and Resources Hub offers quick access learning for professionals working across health and education settings. The Tips and Resources Hub features accessible tips and resources for professionals on feeding problems and eating disorders, top tips for education staff, and wellbeing tips for blue light service staff. The hub also provides coronavirus staff resilience tips, created to support frontline staff working through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Somerset Children and Young People’s Health & Wellbeing had an area of the website that 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.
The toolkit includes information about:
• What can be done in children and young people’s settings, including schools and colleges, to promote mental health
• How children and young people experiencing mental health problems (and their families) can be supported in educational and ‘getset’ service settings
• Support and services available in Somerset
For thousands of years, meditators have claimed many benefits for their practice. The experience of Headspace and its memebers suggests that regular mindfulness practice, through meditation, is an effective treatment for stress, worry, lack of focus, relationship problems, addictions and more.
Please access the website for more information.
The OCD UK phone lines are open from 9am – 12pm for any support you might need.
The Farming Community Network (FCN) are a voluntary organisation and charity that supports farmers and their families within the farming community.
Whether the issue is personal or business-related, FCN is there for you. They run a confidential, national helpline and e-helpline which is open every day of the year from 7am to 11pm and their volunteers provide free, confidential support to anyone who seeks help with a variety of issues.
