Our Young Person’s Sanctuary Launches in Bedford!
A new drop-in service for 14-17 year olds (7 days a week) lands in the heart of Bedford Town.
As the leading Mental Health charity across Bedfordshire, Luton & Milton Keynes providing a range of different services in the support of mental health, we are committed to ensuring that no one has to experience a Mental Health Problem alone.
Mind BLMK is delighted to be working collaboratively with CAMHS and the NHS East London Foundation Trust (ELFT) to provide crisis services for young adults in need of mental health support.
This new provision in Bedford follows the successful launch of our Young Person’s Sanctuary in Luton earlier this year and it will offer free help and advice for anyone between 14-17yrs.
The Sanctuary launched on Monday 15th May and it was great to see so many professionals in the community come and support the launch like the Beds Fire Service, Healthwatch Bedford Borough, Active Luton, Autism Bedfordshire and so many more.
To commemorate the launch, we had speeches from Antigua Riley Corion (Youth Mental Health Manager for the Young Persons Sanctuary Bedford), Jo Meehan (Associate Director of CAHMS) and Caroline Lewis (CEO at Mind BLMK) before officially cutting the ribbon to open the Sanctuary doors.
“The schools do not have the resources to meet the needs of children with mental health problems and it took 9 months to get support and by this time it was too late…”
The Young Person’s Sanctuaries will be a key element in the new-look structure by providing fast, personal help without the need for long referral waits.
We were also delighted to share the news with Jo Brand, after she finished a comedy gig at local venue Bedford Esquires hosted by Jesterlarf Comedy Club on Monday night.
Alessia and Lucy from the Crisis team got to sit down and chat with Jo all about our new service in Bedford and her former life as a psychiatric nurse based at the Emergency Clinic of the Maudsley in South London.
Before becoming a full-time comedian, Jo Brand worked as a psychiatric nurse. In 2016, she received an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University, for her work in raising awareness about mental health.
Thank you to everyone who supported the Young Person’s Sanctuary Bedford launch. Watch this space as we have plans in the very new future to launch more Young Person Sanctuary hubs in the BLMK area…
Young Person’s Sanctuary Bedford
📍 CAMHS building, 5-7 Rush Court, Bedford, MK40 3JT
📆 7 days a week
⏰ Monday – Friday 5pm – 10pm, Saturday – Sunday 4pm – 10pm
Find out more about the Bedford Young Person’s Sanctuary HERE.
Posted on: 17th May 2023
