Led by staff with lived experience of mental health, our Southampton Peer Support service offers spaces where everyone feels safe, accepted and understood.
Peer support is not clinical. It's a person-centred form of support where people with lived experience of mental health will work directly alongside someone to help them set goals, build confidence and resilience or learn tools and techniques to help them with everyday life.
Peer support looks different for everyone, but it can include:
In Southampton, we offer different types of peer support depending on where you live and what mental health services you're currently accessing:
If you're registered with a GP in Bitterne, Woolston, Townhill, Highfield (University Health Service), Shirley, Aldermoor, Lordshill, West End or the Living Well Partnership in Weston, you can ask your GP to refer you to our peer support service.
If you're currently receiving support from College Keep (Central), Bitterne Park (East) or Cannon House (West) Community Mental Health Team, please ask your mental health practitioner to refer you for peer support.
Our Side by Side project runs open community wellbeing groups at Mayfield Garden Centre and other venues across the city. You can self-refer to these by contacting Mayfield directly.
We also have peer support workers working at The Lighthouse out-of-hours crisis centres in Bitterne and Shirley. These services provide non-judgemental, urgent mental health support, between 4.30pm and 11.30pm, 365 days a year.
You can access The Lighthouse remotely by using this video link or by texting ‘Lighthouse’ to 07789390812.
Alternatively, you can drop in to either location – find out more here.
Peer Support is for anyone who feels that connecting with others could help their emotional health.
You do not need to have a diagnosed mental health issue and you do not need to be accessing other kinds of wellbeing support to join us. Just follow the steps above to make a referral.
We understand coming along to a group or activity for the first time can be difficult, so if you would like to talk to someone or meet up with one of our team first, we're happy to help.
For more information about our Southampton peer support service, you can contact the team:
T: 02380 208920
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Southampton Service Manager Emma Frewin talks about the success of our peer-support approach and how her staff teams are helping people across the region to build skills, resilience and confidence for the future of their mental health.
Read Emma's blog.jpg)
Kathryn Morley, Peer Support Worker, Southampton, shares her story of living with Bipolar Affective Disorder
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