INFORMATION FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

Welcome to CHUMS!

We’re a service that helps you when things get a bit difficult to handle on your own.

When you arrive at our offices at Wrest Park, you and whoever you’re with will be met at the front door of the Enterprise Centre and brought up to our waiting room. Feel free to grab yourself a drink while you wait for one of our practitioners to greet you in preparation for your first session. Everyone wearing a blue CHUMS lanyard will be happy to help you with anything you need, so don’t hesitate to ask!

Once your practitioner is available and a small bit of paperwork is out the way, your first session will begin which will take just under an hour. It’s usually up to you if you want to attend this session alone. At the end of the sessions, if it is agreed that you will come back for more sessions, the dates and times will be given to you (up to another three).

Your involvement with CHUMS doesn’t, however, have to end there! Some young people choose to join our service user group called ‘Connect’. The group helps CHUMS by raising awareness and helping to design and develop services. The group have won two awards and made a DVD which had an official premiere in a local theatre. The group also produce a magazine for other service users and help recruit new staff by sitting on interview panels.

Antony Sibley, former service user and member of ‘Connect’.

What is good mental health?

We talk a lot about Mental Health at CHUMS but what actually is it? and how can we keep it healthy?

Let’s Talk

Here’s a short video of Ben and Kirsty doing just that. We hope that this type of conversation will encourage more people to be open about their mental health.

“CHUMS have really helped me and I will continue to practice the techniques you have taught me”

“The impact CHUMS has had on both our lives has been nothing but positive!”

“CHUMS has given us reassurance, an ear to listen and the confidence to move forward again”

“It was great to channel my anger and to practise how to be good at school”

“Before, I didn’t ever stop to think about my choices but now I can stop and see what options I have”

“The group has brought some sort of normality into my otherwise hectic life. It is a safe and at ease environment and it has truly helped expand my friendships with others with similar problems that I have”

“Since joining the group I feel more confident and able to express myself more”

Make A Self Referral