An organisation in Bedford is offering parents free online training to help them feel more confident in supporting their teenager’s mental health and wellbeing.
The training, offered by Bedford Giving, is also open to volunteers, coaches or anyone who works in providing youth activities.
It will help adults become better at spotting the signs that a young person may be struggling, as well as becoming more equipped to have conversations about their mental health and knowing where to signpost them for support.
It’s online or face-to-face, with the aim to develop the skills and awareness of parents, guardians, carers or trusted adults, so they feel confident to listen to, respond safely and signpost to support when teenagers share mental health concerns.
Bedford Giving’s director, Paul (PK) Kellett said: “We’ve launched this new training to enable adults to help young people to build resilience to life’s ups and downs.
“Bedford Giving’s 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.
“The programme is called Safe Space in a Youth Place, to result in young people feeling they can open up in a safe environment. It’s part of Bedford Giving’s goal to make Bedford a young people’s mental health-friendly town.
“We’ve opened the training up to parents, but we’re also looking for those involved in sports, dance, drama, arts, crafts, uniformed services, outdoor activities, charities working with young people or any other youth group.
“Our first face-to-face training last week was a great success with some fantastic feedback from the participants who found it really valuable.
“The next online training starts today and you can visit our website to sign up. There are further face-to-face and online dates available throughout the year.”
For further information and to sign up visit bedfordgiving.org.uk/safespace
Update: This article was updated on 3 June 2025 at 10:55am. We replaced a word in the headline with one that more closely reflected the structure of Bedford Giving.
