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Introduction

Wellbeing is about how we feel and how we cope with everyday difficulties. We do not have to feel happy all of the time to have positive wellbeing. However, if you are finding it difficult to cope with everyday life, you might want to look at different ways to support your mental health.

ChatHealth 11-19 is a text service for young people to confidentially ask for help about a range of issues from a school nurse. For example emotional health, relationships, sexual health, drugs, smoking and alcohol. The service is staffed by qualified school nurses who have a wealth of experience of working with young people and you don’t have to give your name if you don’t want to.

Somerset Emotional and Mental Health Support

The Somerset Emotional and Mental Health Route Map provides a brief overview of some of the key services and support avenues to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in Somerset.

Somerset Young Mental Health Champions LifeHacks for Mental Health project

LifeHacks are 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. They are packed with ideas and links to support your own mental health and your friends’ mental health. They include true stories from people who’ve tried them out. They are great to share with others who need it.

This project was set up to help build resilience through engagement with young people to improve self-esteem and emotional literacy of young people in Somerset. It seeks to create a ‘culture of openness’, for example creating acceptance that it is okay to talk about emotional and mental health problems, talk about recovery and hope, see the whole person and not just the problem.

The LifeHacks were created by a diverse group of young people who volunteered to come together following a series of focus groups held across Somerset exploring mental health. A key theme that emerged was that young people were desperate for knowledge about how to help their friends with mental health issues.

Kooth

Kooth is a free, interactive website for children and young people, accessible on all devices.  It is a safe, confidential online mental health service where young people can receive counselling, advice and support for their emotional well-being. The therapy team are qualified counsellors and psychotherapists. They work closely together and know about other services, so the young people they work with can be signposted to the best information and support.

Lauren from Kooth talks us through the online mental health and wellbeing service for children and young people in Somerset, during the Local Offer Live October 2022.

Tellmi

Tellmi is a safe, anonymous app where you can talk about absolutely anything, giving you the tools to manage your own mental health and support others. From anxiety to autism, dating to depression, or self-harm to self-esteem, sharing your experiences with our awesome community helps you to feel better. Moderators check everything to keep you safe and in-house counsellors are always on hand if you need extra support.

Mental Health Toolkit

The Mental Health Toolkit has information and guidance to help you understand, respond to and manage self-injury. The Self-Injury Pathway Project (SIPP) Guide offers clear, practical advice and genuine insight into the most misunderstood and feared behaviour of self-injury. Shaped by young people living and coping with self-injury; their knowledge, honesty and bravery has been instrumental in creating this guide during the SIPP project which ended in March 2021. And the Supporting Families Plan has been created to provide practical, easy to implement support for the parents/carers and siblings of young people who self-injure.

Somerset Big Tent

Somerset Big Tent is a partnership of Charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations and Community Interest Companies. These are organisations that provide a range of services including positive activities, therapeutic services and specialist support to increase positive wellbeing and improve mental health within children and young people aged 5-25 in Somerset.

All services on the Somerset Big Tent website have gone through a quality and safety assurance process, this means that Somerset Big Tent has met with each organisation and are satisfied with the key documents and information that they have provided.

Somerset Big Tent is funded by NHS Somerset and facilitated by Young Somerset.

Last reviewed: October 20, 2023 by Qi

Next review due: April 20, 2024

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