Today is Time to Talk Day — the nation’s biggest conversation about mental health.
We know how powerful talking can be. Every day, our teams support children and young people through safe, trauma-informed conversations that help them feel heard, understood, and supported.
Our specialist services across Sussex and Surrey help young people stay safe, feel connected and move forward positively. This spans three key areas:
- Housing provision and sustaining accommodation
- Specialist information, advice and support
- Emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Our trauma-informed, young person-centred approach
Across all our services we take a trauma-informed, young person-centred approach. This means we focus on:
- Safety: creating spaces where young people feel protected and able to talk.
- Choice: giving them control over how and when conversations happen.
- Trust: building relationships through consistency, honesty and compassion.
- Empowerment: recognising strengths and supporting young people to move forward.
Every interaction with a young person is shaped by understanding their lived experience, not judging it.
And on Time to Talk Day, it’s a reminder that kind, safe conversations can change lives — and they’re at the heart of everything we do.
Our young people say:
“YMCA DownsLink Group have friendly, capable and determined people who will listen to you and advocate for what you need. They were an anchor for me in the chaos when I became homeless. Very autism and trauma-informed too.”
“It helps to talk, to get my thoughts off my chest. It’s nice to have someone to talk to and who will listen to me for a decent amount of time, because I don’t always have that.”
“Everyone I’ve met at YMCA DownsLink Group – through e-wellbeing, Youth Ambassadors and the Youth Advice Centre – has made me feel safe, supported, listened to and respected.”
Talking to someone is the first step toward feeling better
We have been providing therapy and counselling services for 5–18 year olds since 1994, in the community (Brighton & Hove and West Sussex) and in 40 schools across Sussex.
Accredited by The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), all our counsellors and therapists are qualified.
We also run www.e-wellbeing.co.uk, our online mental health platform for 13–25 year olds. For young people who find face-to-face conversations difficult, starting online can feel easier.
