Washington Mind Young People’s Project offer 1-1 counselling and groupwork for young people aged 11+ who live within the City of Sunderland.
Washington Mind’s Young Peoples service
Counselling is offered in a variety of venues across the City of Sunderland including, The Life House, PopRecs, and some schools and other community settings.
If you would like to make a referral for counselling, please make contact with us via telephone on 0191 417 8043, or complete this form and return to info@washingtonmind.org.uk
At the first appointment that we make sure that counselling is the best way forward. Often it is helpful if a parent can attend this with you, but we always check this with you when you arrive. We also agree further support and arrange for this to happen.
Appointments are confidential unless you tell us that you, or someone else is in an unsafe situation. We may then have to share information to prevent someone from being harmed. If we felt that we had to pass on information without your permission, we would always speak to you first about the need to do this and we would explain what would happen next.
Sometimes while you are waiting for counselling it can be helpful to access other services that offer support:
Childline
is here to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through. You can talk about anything.
Childline is free, confidential and available any time, day or night.
Kooth, from XenZone
is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop.
YoungMinds
We’re the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people’s mental health. We will make sure all young people get the best possible mental health.
Our service continues to adapt, and is influenced primarily by the opinions and needs of young people. All of our best ideas come from them, such as; StrangeThings? Zine, our app Reasons2, the Young People’s area of our online directory (wellbeinginfo.org) and our LGBTQI support group. Young people are currently working as co-creators on a project focusing on loneliness and particularly what can help combat this, this is a 3 year project funded by Kavlifondet.
The service we offer continues to evolve, and we use a participatory approach to engage with young people as advisors. This enables us to develop new ways of engaging with our community to reduce the stigma around mental health and enable people to access support at the most appropriate time.
If you would like to talk to somebody about counselling or any of our services, you can email us at: ypp@washingtonmind.org.uk or phone on: 0191 417 8043
Useful Links
Wellbeinginfo for young people
We have a dedicated Young People’s section of of wellbeinginfo.org where you can find out about different topics such as mental health, self-harm and wellbeing. Click here to visit now.
You're Not Alone
You’re not Alone is an online wellbeing resource formed in Sunderland as part of our Young People’s Project. Their purpose is to support and encourage young people in their engagement with creativity as a self-help tool, especially when experiencing loneliness. They want to celebrate the strength of young people by recognising the difficult conditions they are currently experiencing, by acknowledging everyone’s individual experiences of loneliness and showcasing how resourceful they truly are.
In December 2020, we developed a creative self-help booklet. Click here to find out more.
Click here to visit the project’s website now to find out more and get involved.
Mental Health Zine Library (MHZL)
The Mental Health Zine Library is a mobile pop up library and archive, developed with young people, exclusively for DIY publishing on the theme of mental health and all that includes.
Based at Washington Mind, The Life House, the collection contains zines and publications from creators across the country who have shared their work with us. It stands as a pop up feature a mobile stall at events, art spaces, schools and workshops.
There is a catalogue of the publications on our Washington Mind website where you can also find info on events, cool additions to the library, features and information on how to submit your own zines to the collection.
Click here to visit our Mental Health Zine Library page to check out what zines are in the library.
LGBTQI Youth Group
Washington Mind’s LGBTQI youth group, Rainbow Renegades, takes place weekly in Washington and Sunderland and is suitable for young people aged 13-18. P
lease join us on Wednesday evenings from 4:30pm-6:30pm at The Life House, Grasmere Terrace, Columbia, Washington, NE387LP or on Mondays from 3:30pm-5:30pm at Café Otto, Stockton Road, Sunderland, SR27AQ
Refreshments will be provided.
If you would like to come along, please text on 07507 330 995 or contact us at ypp@washingtonmind.org.uk
Click here to download our Washington poster, or click here to download our Sunderland poster.
strangethings? Zine
Formed in 2017, strange things? Collective is an arty Sunderland-based project that encourages the use of creativity as a self care tool. We were established in partnership with the mental health charity Washington Mind, to make sure we kept a focus on mental wellbeing, and make up part of their Young People’s Project. We have produced a few collections of work, such as Closure, Loneliness and Progress (which you can now flick through on issuu here).
When we started strange things? Collective we wanted to be as engaging as we could with our content, because we think the personal nature of zines is what makes them so special.
We’ve always been about amplifying young people’s voices and giving them an outlet to be creative, and using our skills as self care tools is fundamental to what we do. strange things? Collective is still working to serve the young people in our area, run workshops and be an advocate for our community in Sunderland.
Call for submissions
We’re currently looking for 11-25 year olds to explore the impact of religious belief and/or spirituality on your wellbeing. We’d love to hear responses from young people of all faiths, and those of none, from photography to poetry, testimonies and self0reflection, non-fiction, artwork or anything else. Click here to find out more.
The best way to keep up to date with our work is by following our social media pages.
Teenage Market
Teenage Market from Washington Mind Young People’s Project and Poprecs
Join Washington Mind’s Young People’s Project and Poprecs for the launch of the Sunderland Teenage Market, a celebration of Sunderland’s young talent.
There will be live music and young entrepreneurs running their own market stalls. We do recommend cash payments for these market days.
The market runs every month, with our next session running on Saturday 3rd June from 12pm to 3pm.
To find out more about the market, or if you’re 13-24 and want to hold a free stall at the market, visit:
– Sunderland Teenage Market Facebook
– Sunderland Teenage Market Instagram
– Or send an email to: sunderlandteenagemarket@gmail.com.
Appointments for Parents
New Appointment slots available for parents
Young people are facing a lot of challenges at the moment and it can be difficult to know what we can do to help. Washington Mind’s Young People’s Project are offering a space for family members who are worries about the mental health of 11-25 year olds.
Supporting a young person in your life
If you want to do more to support a young person in your life, we will be at Poprecs in Sunderland on Thursdays between 9:30am-11am starting from 10th November.
If you have any questions or would like to book an appointment, send us an email to: ypp@washingtonmind.org.uk.
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