Mental Health and Counselling Services for Children and Young Adults

Urgent help for  Mental Illness in Children

If your child is suicidal or experiencing hallucinations, manic or other severe mental health behaviour please call the practice and ask for an urgent appointment in order to ask for a referral to Childrens Mental Health Services (CAMHS). If the surgery is closed call 111 for urgent advice or help.

Papyrus (Young Persons Samaritans Helpline

 For young people under the age of 35 who are experiencing suicidal ideation alongside the Samaritans there is also an organisation called PAPYRUS who offer support and advice. They also have a helpline that can be contacted 0800 068 4141 and are open between 10:00am and 10pm weekdays. 2pm-10pm on weekends and Bank Holidays.

PAPYRUS helpline can also be contacted by concerned parents, friends and will be offered support and advice.

Less-Urgent problems with Mental Health in Children

Childrens Society drop in sessions in Shrewsbury and Ludlow- temporarily changed to an email service see below

• The Children’s Society’s Beam service will provide immediate support for children and young people aged between 0 and 25 years
• It will include weekly drop-in sessions in Shrewsbury for young people and those in the community who can visit without needing an appointment or a referral. BEAM Shrewsbury, Palmer’s Coffee Shop, Belmont Church, Claremont Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1QG every Thursday 2-7pm upstairs at Palmers Coffee Shop on Claremont Street.
• We also are lucky to have a Ludlow Beam service with twice a month drop in sessions: BEAM Ludlow Youth Centre SY81RT 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday of each month 3.30-7pm

Local Mental Heath Services for Children during COVID

Young people can email AskBeam@childrenssociety.org.uk asking for support. Once they have emailed, an automatic response will ask for some more information. When this has been completed, a team member will contact them to discuss what help they need, and when the best time would be for a practitioner to call them. Calls will be booked in with practitioners within usual drop-in times.

Parents/Carers: If you feel your child(ren)/young person would benefit from support from BEAM, please take a look at their website https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/beam/coronavirus. For young people aged 13+ please ask them to contact BEAM via AskBeam@childrenssociety.org.uk. For young people who are aged 13 and under, you will need to contact BEAM on their behalf via AskBeam@childrenssociety.org.uk. As with the face to face drop-ins, the young person should want to engage, and be able to do so over the phone.

Other Useful Links:   Apps and websites to support emotional health and wellbeing   (click for link)
National organisations & Online Resources for parents/carers   (click for link)

BEAM continues to innovate and adapt. This is an enormous effort from every corner of The Children’s Society to ensure they can continue to offer support to the children and young people they work with. For more information about how the charity is working at the moment, or to donate to their emergency Coronavirus appeal, please go to their website at https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/

Counselling in Schools for Young People,

• Many schools have a school counsellor available, young people or parents can ask their school if they have access to a counsellor and organising this with the school directly.

Online and face to face Counselling Services for young people

• Kooth provides free, anonymous online counselling through your phone, tablet, laptop or PC. Anyone with a Shropshire or Telford & Wrekin post code aged 11-25yrs can register to access Kooth. A referral is not required, just go to www.kooth.com.

The website also offers peer support, self-help material and gives children and young people access to live forums. The website is available 24 hours; there will be professional counsellors available for live online chats at the following times:

12:00 to 22:00 (Monday to Friday)
18:00 to 22:00 (Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays)

For more information visit Kooth – www.kooth.com

A note for parents: Where the young person’s needs are greater than what Kooth can provide the service will be able to refer them directly to access specialist mental health help through either Healios or the Children’s Mental Health Services.

• Healios

Healios provide psychological therapies online which are delivered by qualified practitioners (the same kind as those based in NHS services). The service is available between 8am and 9pm, 7 days a week.

Healios can only be accessed via a referral from Childrens Mental Health Services or via Kooth.

For more information visit Healios – healios.org.uk

Young Shropshire in Work (YSiW)

• YSiW is a Ludlow based charity which supports young people who are 16 – 25 through a confidential 1:1 mentoring service. Our volunteer mentors are trained (including Safeguarding Training) they are DBS checked, have wide life experiences, knowledgeable about the local area and have an empathy for young people .
• Mentors will support a person between leaving school and finding a job or training, or are slightly older and unemployed. Some young people find it difficult to make the transition from education into a job or training. We receive self referrals as well as from agencies such as the Jobcentre, County Training , Ludlow College or the Foyer.
• Many of the young people we support do not possess the employability skills that an employer is looking for. They are lacking soft skills and may have other barriers to be overcome before they can move towards the practical aspects of finding work or training. During the 1:1 mentoring sessions we will be working with the individual to address the following areas:
• Soft Skills
• Addressing low self- esteem
• Identifying barriers to work or training
• Transport issues
• Motivation
• Employability Skills
• CV writing
• Interview Techniques
• Mock interviews
• Filling in an application form
• Finding work experience
• These are just a few ways our mentors offer support to a mentee, in most cases the young person and mentor will identify and set goals and actions together, and meet on a regular basis to identify progress and next steps.
• For further information please visit the YSiW website www.youngshropshireinwork.co.uk or contact Erica Garner (Chair of Young Shropshire in Work) on 01584 875027 or 07974001310