Brook’s Wellbeing Hubs: Meeting young people at the intersection of sexual and mental health 

Sexual Health Week sees Brook officially open the doors of its new Wellbeing Hubs in Blackburn and Cornwall. To mark this occasion, Helen Corteen, Designated Wellbeing and Mental Health Lead, and Anna Bailey, Counselling Lead, discuss the background to Brook’s early intervention work and how the hubs will empower young people to make positive changes in their lives. 

For 60 years Brook has been providing safe spaces where young people can speak openly.

Our clinics have always been more than just a place where young people can get condoms and contraception.

They are sites where young people can discuss intimate issues honestly with a trusted adult, free from the stigmas that can make conversations about sex and sexual health so challenging.  

In these confidential, non-judgemental spaces, young people will often raise issues that extend beyond their sexual health. Listening to young people talk about their lives has enriched our awareness of how sexual health and mental health are inextricably linked. Whether it’s the emotional impact of an STI diagnosis, or how poor mental health affects decision making around sex and relationships, the connection between the two is undeniable, and is also supported by the available evidence. 

Brook has always responded to these additional needs as part of our holistic approach to sexual health, either by providing our own counselling services, or referring young people to other organisations. In 2015 we launched My Life, our unique one-to-one early intervention programme aimed at empowering young people to improve their own wellbeing. But it is apparent that we need to be doing more. In recent years we have seen a sharp rise in the number of young people presenting with mental health problems in our clinics. Mental health was also the top concern raised by young people in our national consultation in 2021. It is in direct response to this need that we are launching our new Wellbeing Hubs.

The two hubs, located in Blackburn and Cornwall, offer early intervention mental health support for young people aged 11-25. Trained Brook Specialists and Counsellors will listen to, guide, and support young people to find meaningful ways to improve their mental health. As well as our counselling and My Life services, the hubs will also provide a mental health literacy programme aimed at helping young people better understand emotions, stress, and how to build support networks.  

Across all these programmes the starting point always remains the same: the young person in front of us.

Our person-centred approach means meeting each individual young person where they are in their life.

We listen to them, we learn what’s meaningful to them, try to understand their current context and where they want to go in the future.  

What we don’t do is preach. Our work has always been based on the belief that with the right information and support, young people themselves are best placed to make decisions about their own sexual health and wellbeing. Our approach to mental health early intervention is no different. Our Wellbeing Hubs are spaces created for young people to make sense of their own world. We are there to walk alongside them, equipping them with the tools they need to make the choices that are right for them. 

It’s an approach that works.

Over the years of delivering counselling and My Life, we’ve been repeatedly told by young people what a difference it makes to be listened to by an adult who takes genuine interest in them. Young people have also fed back that our programmes provide them with a deeper understanding of how they can take control of situations within which they previously felt powerless. Through the Wellbeing Hubs, Brook will be able to empower even more young people with the confidence, self-awareness and motivation to make positive changes in their lives.