Mental Health Support

We offer wellbeing support for ages 8-17 through personal and drop-in services where young people can access support. Find out about our dedicated sessions for those with mild to moderate mental health issues.

What Is It? 

We have a small team of qualified and trainee Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Practitioners (CWPs for short). They are trained to work with young people to help them with their mental health and can work with young people with mild to moderate mental health issues.

We offer a low-intensity service through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which have a huge evidence base for improving the mental health of children and young people. Please see our Traffic Light leaflet for guidance on the mental health difficulties that are and aren’t suitable for our service. Some young people with a higher level of need may require high-intensity therapy which we are not trained to deliver. We can help you decide if our CWP can offer the right support and suggest alternative services if needed.    

youth worker with young person

How Does It Work? 

Our CWPs work with young people and parents in a flexible way for a short length of time (6-10) sessions. Our interventions are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which focus on present difficulties, and not on the past like counselling or Psychodynamic therapy. The therapy involves teaching the young people self-help tools which they can then continue to use later in life. 

Who is it for?

Support is for young people aged 8 – 17 living in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, who are not currently accessing support through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).  

If you are a young person who meets the above criteria, you can refer yourself. The following people and organisations can also refer to our wellbeing service: 

  • Parents/carers  
  • GP surgery/ health care provider  
  • Voluntary sector organisation/charity 
  • Social care 
  • Family support services/ other local authority services  
  • CAMHS 
  • Hospital Education 
  • Primary Schools
  • Secondary Schools (Kingswood only)

For school referrals, please see info on the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) – Mental Health Support Team – OTR (otrbristol.org.uk).

Fill in the referral form below.