akt supports lgbtq+ young people in the uk experiencing homelessness or living in hostile environments to find safe homes, employment, education or training, and to celebrate their identities in order to improve their life outcomes.
Resources:
Luv2MeetU Bristol
A friendship and dating agency for people with a learning disability aged 18 and over, Luv2MeetU support people to make friends, share interests and develop relationships.
HearttoHeart Counselling
Low-cost counselling service in Bristol offering counselling with a qualified or student counsellor to anyone over the age of 12, including couples counselling.
HappyMaps
Worried about your child’s behaviour or mental health? Not sure where to start looking for help? HappyMaps will guide you to websites, books, videos and Apps to help you and your child, plus there is information on being referred for specialist help, how to find counselling and support for parents.
Funded by Health Education England and supported by Bristol Mind, HappyMaps is designed to help parents find helpful and reliable resources on behaviour and mental health for their children – from babies and children to young adults. These resources include websites, videos, books, Apps and helplines. We hope this will be really useful for parents whose children don’t meet the specialist referral thresholds or are perhaps on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting list. There is good general national information and also local information on counselling, charities, local CAMHS and parenting groups for the South-West.
Kooth
Kooth is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use.
- Chat to counsellors
- Read articles written by young people
- Get support from the Kooth community
- Write in a daily journal
National Survivor User Network (NSUN)
NSUN are a network of people and groups living in England who have and do experience mental distress and want to change things for the better. By connecting our members, and amplifying their experiences and aspirations, we influence policy, practice and perception, in order to reduce disadvantage and discrimination and stop people being ignored and isolated.
Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BIMHN)
The Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BIMHN) represents a diverse community of past, current and future users of Bristol’s mental health services, as well as those with lived experiences of mental health.
We provide a safe space for people to confidentially share their needs and experiences of services, while we campaign for change by holding local providers to account.
BIMHN also acts against discrimination, and promotes a positive understanding of mental health through education.
The Beehive Centre
The Beehive Centre aims to reduce social isolation and connect communities in Whitehall and St. George.
The Centre hosts social events and activities such as like Tai Chi, Line Dance, Keep Fit, Art & Craft, Internet Cafe & Lunch Club and many of our activities are tailored to the needs of older people (55+ years).
Marmalade Trust
Marmalade Trust offers a vital link between lonely people and the communities and resources that can help them.
In a nutshell:
- WHAT: We recognise and raise awareness of loneliness
- HOW: We support and signpost people to new resources and communities
- WHY: To empower people to make new friendships and connections
We have a positive and proactive approach to loneliness and we want to normalise the conversation around it. There is nothing wrong with feeling lonely: it’s just a lack of social connections. We aim to lose the stigma around loneliness and rather than seeing it as a negative, shameful or hopeless thing, we want to educate people to see loneliness as a blank canvas on which they can fill their lives with new friends and experiences.
We all feel lonely at some point but the good news is that it is entirely fixable. We are committed to changing the language of loneliness to make it a conversation about connections instead.