Free courses and support for you in 2023

Suffolk Mind, we’re here for you this year just as we were last year, through the cost of living crisis and beyond. As ever, our mission is to make Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health. Here are some of the free courses and support for you that’s available in 2023.

We’ve been lucky enough to secure funding for lots of our current projects and services, along with some new ones. This means we can offer support to you, and your loved ones, for free.

We will continuously update this page as more grant funding is secured, so do keep checking.

If you are a trustee and would like to fund one of our services, which would enable us to offer support to people for free, you can read more on our Philanthropy page.

Free courses and support for you in 2023

Need support with gambling challenges?  

We have some free courses funded by BeGambleAware, which are aimed at anyone in Suffolk aged 18+ who is affected by gambling – either directly or indirectly (you, or someone close to you).

We can provide two online interactive courses to help support mental health.

To find out more, or to book a course, please visit our Free Community Courses page.

Are you someone looking to get some support outdoors?

As any gardener will tell you, getting outdoors in the fresh air is great for your physical and mental wellbeing. It improves our physical and mental health by gently increasing their activity levels, while also giving us the opportunity to work alongside others. Our GreenCare allotments project helps people get outside and enjoy gardening whilst benefiting their mental wellbeing.

We have allotments in Haverhill, Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich which offer you the opportunity to learn about gardening and contribute to the creation of a thriving growing space that benefits everyone. You can also make new friends and get support from other group members.

To come along to our session, simply fill out our referral form.

And, if you’d like to volunteer, please visit our volunteering page.

Need support with getting back into work?

Suffolk Work Well is a free service which aims to support people with mental health challenges to:

• Get work ready
• Be enabled to gain employment or access education services
• Retain employment

Suffolk Work Well aims to provide a complete support programme that can be tailored to meet your needs and aspirations. It can also help facilitate your transition towards employment or to retain your employment. The service will enable you to understand your Emotional Needs in order to stay well, and to achieve and maintain your personal goals.

You can refer yourself to Suffolk Work Well through our online referral form.

You can also be referred through your Jobcentre, your HR Team, your GP, support worker, care coordinator or psychiatrist who can refer on your behalf via the online referral form.

Want to get support and meet other people?

Face-to-face drop-in health and wellbeing groups are running at various locations across Suffolk.

Open Spaces are health and wellbeing groups run by trained staff and supported with volunteers. These groups have been developed with the involvement of participants and provide social activities and mental health related discussions.

These groups provide different activities and discussion topics each week. A timetable for each is available on the Suffolk Libraries website.

For more details about Open Spaces and for further support, visit SAGES (Suffolk, Advice, Guidance and Emotional Support).

Just looking for a chat and some support in the evenings?

Suffolk Night Owls is a telephone, text and email support service run by Suffolk Mind.

Our support line is available to anyone in Suffolk (excluding Waveney) who needs emotional support, including those with complex emotional needs and anyone struggling with loneliness, depression or anxiety.

This is not a crisis support service. Please contact 999 or 111 if you are in crisis.

To access our support service, you need to register with us by completing our referral form.