Mental Health Training – Safe Space in a Youth Place
Support Young Minds in Bedford
Are you an adult who works or volunteers with young people running youth activities? Unsure of what to do if a young person comes to you with a mental health problem?
We’re offering FREE online or face-to-face training to help you support young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and help us to make Bedford a young people’s mental health friendly town.
What does the training focus on?
The aim of the training is to develop the skills and awareness of adults who engage with young people, so they feel confident to listen to, respond safely and signpost to support when young people share mental health concerns. It focuses on:
- Introducing the youth brain – exploring feelings, thoughts, behaviours and using coaching methods to problem solve with young people.
- Building connections with young people so they feel safe to talk and looking at how to use focused questions to start a supportive conversation.
- Exploring resilience and self esteem – exploring stress, adverse childhood experiences, resilience, emotional regulation and how to develop self-esteem.
- Youth culture and generational traits – looking at generational differences and understanding how they shape values, beliefs and behaviours.
- Understanding the mental health of children and young people – looking at how to relate to their experiences and gain awareness of local and national support services to signpost to.
Who can sign up?
We’re looking for adults who work with or volunteer running activities for young people, such as in the following areas and we have also opened the training up to parents and guardians, including foster carers:
Why are we offering this training?
Our research into the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Bedford revealed the town needs more provision of a preventative approach to mental health that young people say they need.
We set up a group including board members, public health leads and youth voluntary sector workers to come up with recommendations in view of their own experiences of youth mental health provision in Bedford, on how Bedford Giving should proceed.
The group recommended that we help to make Bedford a ‘young people’s mental health friendly town‘ by offering basic mental health awareness training to people who volunteer and work with young people.
We put out a bid and commissioned One YMCA to put together and run this training to help young people to build resilience to life’s ups and downs. We did not want it to focus on an overly ‘medical’ approach to mental health, which focuses on symptoms and diagnosis. We wanted training which helps trusted adults spot signs and be equipped to have conversations with young people about their mental health and to know where to signpost them to for support.
The training also develops an awareness of when an issue a young person is facing might need professional help and provides suggestions of where to signpost a young person to.
Why is it called Safe Space in a Youth Place?
The programme is called Safe Space in a Youth Place as we aim for the training to result in young people feeling they can open up to a trusted adult in a safe environment. We will also provide organisations with a kitemark when volunteers complete the training to drive home the message the group provides a mental health friendly space for young people.
What sort of training will it be?
The training will be online or face-to-face, you can choose which one you prefer or fits into your busy schedule.
When will the training take place?
Each course is made up of five sessions, delivered either in person or online.
In person courses cover all five sessions in one day.
Online courses cover one session at a time, spread either weekly over five weeks or daily over one week, at different times either morning, lunchtime or evening.
You can choose which course you want to attend in the sign up form.
Face-to-face Training
Takes place in person 10am-4pm on:
- Thursday 29 January 2026
- Friday 27 February 2026
- Friday 27 March 2026
- IF AN ORGANISATION IS INTERESTED IN GROUP TRAINING FOR YOUR STAFF/VOLUNTEERS PLEASE EMAIL contact@bedfordgiving.org.uk
Online Training
Takes place online 12pm to 1.30pm each day:
- Mon 2 March - Fri 6 March 2026
How do I apply?
Just fill in the expression of interest from online and our delivery partner One YMCA, which we have commissioned to run the training will be in touch.
Why get involved?
There are many benefits to taking part including:
- Making a difference in your community.
- Helping young people build resilience.
- Finding out where to signpost a young person to who may need extra support.
- Gaining valuable transferable skills.
- Gaining personal life skills that can help build strong relationships and manage challenges in various aspects of life, from family dynamics, to community involvement and personal development.
What skills will I gain?
Here’s just a few of the employability and life skills you will gain as part of the training:
Leadership and teamwork: you will learn to listen and use focused questions to help young people to open up, which builds leadership and teamwork skills.
Communication: you will improve your ability to communicate with all generations.
Empathy and emotional intelligence: you will explore understanding the needs and challenges faced by others. This helps develop empathy and emotional intelligence, as you learn to consider different perspectives and emotional contexts.
Confidence and self-esteem: Taking on the responsibility of being a listening ear for a young person’s problems, where you can provide meaningful support can boost self-confidence.
By working together, we can create meaningful support for young people in Bedford, to help build brighter futures for the next generation.
“I really enjoyed the safe space training day. I have been on various training courses covering a similar topic, but I found this day much more interactive and informative. It was well laid out into different sections, and it was a very useful refresher for me! I particularly liked the various graphics and videos used to demonstrate different topics as well as the practical tools and techniques given that would work well with the young people we support!”
How do I get involved?
We look forward to hearing from you!
If you’ve got any questions email contact@bedfordgiving.org.uk and we’ll be in touch.