Signposting links for
Mental Health Support
Emergency number for NHS is 111
If you are in immediate danger call 999
Our goal is to provide you with a handy list of contacts below who you can contact for support:
Dorset Samaritans www.samaritans.org/branches/weymouth
Dorset NHS www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/access-mental-health
Dorset Community Mental Health Alliance www.dcmha.uk
New Access to Wellbeing Hub in West Dorset for Mental Health
John Simpson 22 May 2025
Access to wellbeing is a co-ordinated approach to engage those suffering from anxiety and stress throughout Dorset and uses a multi-agency approach to assist those with mental health issues. It is a partnership between councils, community groups, charities and Dorset NHS and the West Dorset Hub is a natural progression of hubs already set up in Boscombe, Poole and Weymouth.
It can be described as a ‘lighter’ version of the Community Front Room (CFR) mental health walk-in clinics located around Dorset. Whilst it is similar to that of the CFR’s in assisting with mental health, the big difference is that Access to Wellbeing comes to you. The West Dorset Hub will set up in village halls, schools etc so that distance is overcome.
They will be able to listen and advise about relationships, financial worries as well as stress at work as well as ‘Signpost’ you to more specialist help where necessary and all in the strictest confidence.
Access to Wellbeing is based on St Michael’s Trading Estate, Bridport and shares premises with the ‘Harmony’ (mental health drop in centre) and the Bridport CFR.
Links
www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/access-mental-health/community-front-rooms
Commentary
This is an excellent service and as the former Chairman of The Hughes Unit Group Supporters (HUGS) 2019-2022 that although the CFR’s are spread geographically throughout Dorset they need to reach out further to the ‘capillaries of the community’. Access to Wellbeing goes along way to reach out to isolated residents in villages and farming communities. With this in mind I recommended to Erin, who leads this initiative, that she should contact the Farming Community Network (FCN) who engages those in the community using delivery drivers, postmen and community leaders to highlight any changes in individuals who might be suffering from anxiety and stress.
In a recent article, ‘Mental Health Awareness Week: Finding Strength in Community, May 2025, Sharon May* writing for the FCN, talks about how farming communities have changed over the last 40 years and has led to isolation of farmers. Sharon is urging communities to engage with their ‘rural tribe’ and reduce this isolation amongst farmers.
*Sharon May is a counsellor and is a current 2025 Nuffield Farming Scholar studying the topic “no farmer is an island – supporting the mental health of farming families”
Links
Farming Community Network — fcn.org.uk
Sharon May article — fcn.org.uk/blog/2025/05/13/mental-health-awareness-week-finding-strength-in-community.
Access Wellbeing at The Prout Bridge Project, Beaminster
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