Mental Health Services

The YMCA Youth Advice Centre (YAC) offers advice, support and guidance to young people in Brighton and Hove. The YAC team are able to offer expertise on a wide range of topics. Our aim is to provide young people in the local area with a safe and friendly environment where they can access helpful advice and support. 

We offer a Family Support & Mediation Service and a Support & Advice Service providing sexual health advice and services, emotional and wellbeing support and benefits and money advice. 

Ways we can support you:

• Sexual Health – Access to the C Card (free condoms) scheme and relationship support. HIV, STI and Chemsex awareness support and referral pathways.
• Emotional Health and Wellbeing – Anger management advice, self-esteem support, self-harm, stress and anxiety, bullying support and help accessing mental health support and counselling. Support around ADHD and ASC referral for finding appropriate support and advice accessing GP and additional services. Advocacy support to access additional statutory and non-statutory services.  
• Debt and Benefits – Help filling in forms and support to make claims, budgeting and money management advice and help to access specialist benefit support. Support accessing ID and relevant information to enable access to appropriate support. Gambling support.  
• Education, Employment and Training – Support completing CV’s, job applications and searches, finding training and education, support accessing well-being teams, learning support mentors and referring to other appropriate services. Support with accessing transport for education. We support young people with accessing volunteering opportunities. Cooking classes with potential for additional training. Local training schemes and job opportunities.  
• Cost of Living Crisis – Partner with external organisations to support funding and financial crisis for young people, in-house support accessing funding for essential items, food, energy bills and additional support. We offer a direct referral pathway to access funding through Brighton and Hove City Council and the Community Hub, completing referrals for Local Discretionary Social Fund, Housing Support Fund, Lift-Up Fund and Food Bank referrals – if you are unable to be supported by our Food Market project. 

We work in partnership with multiple organisations and are a direct referral pathway for all forms of support outside of housing.