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Worried About A Young Person?

Although our services for young people are generally accessed by self-referral, that shouldn’t stop you picking up the phone and giving us a call if you are concerned.

Although we will need to talk to any young person accessing us, you can of course help them make the call if they feel anxious about it.

You may also just want some information about what we offer. Please take the time to look at our services page, as well as the pages full of information about young people’s mental health and well-being.

Sometimes though there’s no substitute for talking to someone, so if you’re still worried you can either call us on 0808 808 9120 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can’t I refer a young person myself without you speaking to them?

For counselling to be the most effective it can be, a young person needs to want to come to the counselling themselves. We like to make sure that each young person that uses the service understands why they are coming and what they can expect from us, which is why we ask that they speak to us before we will offer them any counselling sessions.

How long will it take to get an appointment?

Off the Record (Bristol) is a unique service locally, offering FREE self-referral counselling/therapy to young people aged 11-25 in the city. Demand for our service is always very high, and as a small charity with limited funding and a small number of staff and volunteers, there is always a wait for our services. This can vary, but it means you will sometimes have to wait several weeks for an appointment.

We do understand that once you've made the decision to go for counselling, it's really hard to have to wait a long time. Please know that we do our utmost to keep waiting to a minimum, but it is sometimes beyond our control.

As part of that process, please be aware that as someone using our service you can help us keep waiting times to a minimum. You can help us by:

• providing accurate contact information;
• letting us know if your circumstances change, particularly changes in your availability and contact details;
• answering our calls and/or returning the messages/texts we send;
• being as flexible as you can be about when you can attend appointments;
• attending your appointments as arranged and avoiding cancelling appointments at short notice or not showing up at all and without any warning.

All these things will help us keep waiting to a minimum. We do understand that sometimes life gets in the way and it is unavoidable that you need to cancel a session. However, please be mindful that if you cancel a session or simply don’t show up, the wait for those not yet accessing counselling is made longer.

My son/daughter is really nervous about coming to counselling. Can I come into the sessions with them?

Coming for counselling can feel nerve-wracking for some young people and we want to make the experience for them as comfortable as possible. We find that the young people who come for counselling with us get the most out of it of it when it is one to one between them and their counsellor. In some circumstances it may be possible for us to arrange for you to come into the first session with them for 5 minutes at the beginning. This is normally enough time for them to feel settled in and ready to talk to the counsellor on their own.

Will I have a chance to talk to the counsellor about what has happened in the sessions?

We understand that you may want to find out how your son/daughter is getting on in the sessions. However, the sessions are confidential and the counsellor has a duty to respect the young person’s privacy. Some young people may want to share later what they have spoken about with their counsellor, but it is their choice to do so.