External Support

The Sandbox is an NHS-funded service to support children and young people in South Staffordshire and Hertfordshire with their mental health and wellbeing. 

In addition to providing NHS-funded support, The Sandbox is a central place for resources about common mental health issues, with information on how to access additional support or emergency services.

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Hertfordshire Services for Young People have a drop in centre from 1pm until 5pm from Monday to Friday at 41 Catherine Street in St Albans. The full address, website and full details of the service can be found by clicking on the logo above.  Friendly staff there will discuss any concerns with young people aged 13-19.

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Youth Talk was founded by a local GP in 1997 after she realised there was a need for a safe place where young people could come for counselling and support. Since then, over 2100 young people have used the service. Each year around 190 young people are seen and up to 50 sessions offered each week.

The service is available to 13 – 25 year olds who live, work or attend school/college in the District of St Albans. They work on a self-referral only basis, so promoting personal responsibility. They are based in a town house just off the High Street and provide a secure, warm and non-stigmatising environment. All their counsellors are qualified therapists and highly experienced in working with young people. Youth Talk has a National award for innovation and an award for services to the community.

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ChildLine is a private and confidential service for children and young people up to the age of 19. You can contact a ChildLine counsellor about anything -no problem is too big or too small. Call free on 0800 1111, have a 1-2-1 chat online or send an email.

This page has a list of some of the most common questions people have asked us about contacting ChildLine.

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hyh is a unique charity in Hertfordshire providing services to support vulnerable people.

Their focus is on preventing homelessness - from education in schools and family mediation through to supporting 16-24 year olds in their first homes or caring for adults of all ages who have mental health issues and housing needs.

Their FREE services empower young people to be able to deal with the difficult situations in their lives, give them the ability and confidence to ‘do it themselves’ and ultimately find stability.

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Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are delivered across the whole of Hertfordshire.

The service treats emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents. Emotional problems include depression, anxiety and phobias. Behavioural problems include extreme aggression at home and school, delinquency and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).

Other serious issues can be anorexia, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder.

About 10% of all children at one time have a serious problem that is affecting their school, family or social life. There are about 250,000 children and adolescents (under 18s) in Hertfordshire.

They offer Child and Adolescent services throughout the county, through their community-based Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team and the Primary Care Liaison Service. They also offer consultations, assessments and interventions to looked after children and their care networks.

Their head office is at The Colonnades, Beaconsfield Road, Hatfield. AL10 8YE and their main phone number is (01707) 253900

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A safe and confidential service, run by qualified and trained staff with many years experience of working with families in a variety of settings.

They provide a service with a positive reputation of multi agency working.

Families First help with a variety of issues, these could be:

• Experiencing or have experienced domestic violence
• Family member/friend is in prison, or due out of prison
• Problems with neighbours/friends/family
• Worried about a child/children—family breakdown or separation, contact issues with an absent partner,  issues at school.

Ways in which support is provided:

• Telephone Support
• One on One Support
• Advocacy
• Mediation
• Group Work
• Families Meetings
• Counselling for Children and Young People
• Workshops

A Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) provides services to victims/survivors of rape or sexual assault regardless of whether the survivor/victim chooses to reports the offence to the police or not.

Sexual Assault Referral Centres are designed to be comfortable and multi-functional, providing private space for interviews and examinations, and some may also offer counselling services.  “SARC”s have specialist staff that are trained to help you make informed decisions about what you want to do next.

Click to find details of local Independent Sexual Violence Adviser services (ISVAs).

Area: HERTFORDSHIRE

Sunflower Centre SARC (Hemel)
Telephone: 01442 270 679
Website: www.hertssunflower.org/herts-sunflower.aspx

Their aim is to help anyone in the St Albans District in need of bereavement support. Their services are available to all adults, families, children and young people. They also offer support and guidance to professionals working with the bereaved.

Samaritans are available round the clock, every single day of the year.

They support anyone who needs them through 201 branches across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Their service can help people before it's too late.

Samaritans reach out and work with schools, colleges and universities, workplaces, health and welfare services, homeless shelters, prisons and other charities. Samaritans also promote awareness of their service at local social venues, community events and music festivals.

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They offer a safe place for you to talk any time you like, in your own way – about whatever’s getting to you. You don’t have to be suicidal.

Find out why their service works and what you can expect when contacting them.

Step2 is an Early Intervention Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service for children and young people in Hertfordshire aged 0-19.

Step2 receives written referrals for direct family/child support from health professionals across Hertfordshire.

With a dedicated team of mental health professionals, the service offers a range of support including one to one direct interventions and group support.

The Step2 team includes specialist bereavement and a loss advisor who can help support professionals working with bereaved children and ADHD Nurse specialists who provide ADHD pre-screening service (available in the west and south of the county only).

School nurse if confidential advice and support for young people - Text your query to:
07480 635050

Safe Space, Counselling in Schools

The Counselling in Schools Service (part of Safe Space) provides Counselling and Arts Therapies (Art, Drama, Play) to Primary and Secondary schools across Hertfordshire.

Counselling offers the individual a safe non-judgemental space to explore their feelings and work through any issues they are experiencing whether this be concerning relationships, loss, stress, change or traumatic events.

Arts Therapy is used as the primary means of communication to allow an individual the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings in a safe and confidential environment. It can be particularly useful for those who find it difficult to express their thoughts and feelings verbally.

The service works with children and young people aged 5-19 years (up to 21 years with care leavers) within educational establishments in Hertfordshire. If the child/young person is not attending school/college, arrangements can be made to see them in an alternative, appropriate space.

Who to contact

Telephone:   01992 588796
E-mail :   counsellinginschoolsmailbox@hertfordshire.gov.uk
Twitter:   https://twitter.com/SafeSpaceHerts

MindEd for Families

Are you a parent or carer who is concerned about your child? Or perhaps you just want some hints and tips on parenting? MindEd for Families has online advice and information from trusted sources and will help you to understand and identify early issues and best support your child.

MindEd is cross-professional, and can be used by teachers, health professionals, police and judiciary staff, social workers, youth service volunteers, school counsellors among others to support their professional development.

MindEd offers online help and advice for common issues: www.minded.org.uk

FRANK is a national drug service jointly established by the Department of Health and Home Office of the British government in 2003 to educate and advice teenagers and adolescents about the potential effects of drugs and alcohol.

How you get help:

Talk to Frank:

• If you want to talk, you can call FRANK on 0300 123 6600, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• You can visit their website: www.talktofrank.com
• You can have a friendly and confidential online chat with Frank from 2pm- 6pm (UK time) on any day of the week.
• you can text a question to 82111 and FRANK will text you back.
• you can contact Frank via this email address: frank@talktofrank.com

YoungMinds is an independent national charity and is not part of the NHS at all. CAMHS is a set of local services run by the NHS in your area and you’ll usually be referred by your GP or, you can find your nearest CAMHS service on the NHS website.

The OLLIE Foundation (One Life Lost is Enough) is a registered charity funding suicide intervention skills training for adults working with young people. This training enables professionals to identify warning signs and provide a pathway to help combat suicidal thoughts.

Click to here to read more about getting support  

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation is the only UK-wide child protection charity dedicated solely to preventing child sexual abuse.

We work closely with frontline workers and professionals such as police officers, social workers and education staff to ensure children are as safe as they can be. 
We keep children safe in all our work. 

We work with entire families that have been affected by sexual abuse including: young people with inappropriate sexual behaviours; adult male and female sexual abusers; victims of abuse and other family members.

Drawing on our expert knowledge, we offer a broad range of services for professionals and members of the public and we run the confidential Stop it Now! Helpline.

 We are an innovative and experienced provider of mental health services in Mid Hertfordshire and have our well being centres in St. Albans, Stevenage, Hertford and Welwyn Garden City. As both individuals and as an organisation we are committed to providing high quality services for people aged 16 and over.

Click here to read more.

Headspace is meditation made simple. Teaching you the life changing skills of meditation and mindfulness in just a few minutes each day.  This is a free to download app with supporting website here 

Safer Places exist to drive down the incidence and impact of domestic and sexual abuse and to support those who use their services in their journey to recovery, resilience and independence. For more help and information, visit website here

With children and young people relying on their tech at home for learning and entertainment, it remains vital to keep conversations about online safety going and raise awareness of reporting routes if something goes wrong. Information and resources for parents/carers can be found through their website here