Find the answers to frequently asked questions about the Pathfinder West Sussex service here
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FAQsPathfinder West Sussex is a free mental health support service for adults living in West Sussex. Whether you need advice, emotional support or more intensive help, the service can help you find the support you need.
You can get in touch through our Help Point by phone (call 0300 303 5652) or email (helppoint@pathfinderwestsussex.org.uk). Our friendly team can guide you to the right support for your needs.
We provide:
You can get in touch for advice or to self-refer for support in the following ways:
Mental health support is available:
You can attend appointments with a carer if you wish. Note that the majority of our support is provided during the working week (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
There is also supported self-help available. This is a programme of information, resources and phone calls if you are experiencing mental health problems around particular issues, such as anxiety, grief and loss, stress or low self-esteem. It’s a flexible support model with phone and video appointments to fit your schedule.
Anyone who is a resident in West Sussex can get support with us. Please note that we are not a counselling service, but instead provide one-to-one and group support to improve your wellbeing and to help you learn to understand and manage your mental health. We are also linked with the local NHS should you need specialist support.
Pathfinder West Sussex isn’t a crisis service. If you are experiencing mental health crisis, please find support with the organisations listed here.
We don’t provide advocacy services for people with mental health problems. However, Mind in Brighton & Hove offers this service across West Sussex. Find out more here.
We mainly operate our services during working hours (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm). However, if there are times that you can’t attend appointments due to work or other commitments, please let our Help Point staff know and we can try, but not guarantee, to make adjustments to accommodate this.
Support is provided by trusted local organisations, including BHT Sussex, West Sussex Mind, Southdown, Crawley Open House, Turning Tides, Stonepillow and Capital, working closely with the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT).
Pathfinder staff are part of the neighbourhood mental health teams in West Sussex, which bring together NHS and voluntary sector services. This means we can ensure that you get to the right place for support, including referring you for clinical treatment if required.
It also means that wherever you ask for support – whether that’s in a GP surgery, a community venue or at a support hub run by a voluntary sector partner – you will be guided to the support you need and you won’t have to repeat your story when you get that support. The organisations involved in the neighbourhood mental health teams all use the same electronic patient record system for data sharing, which means you won’t have to explain all the background more than once.
In-person support is provided at locations in Worthing, Southwick, Littlehampton, Chichester, Burgess Hill, Bognor, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Crawley. Sometimes this support takes place in Pathfinder partners’ own premises and sometimes in community venues, such as libraries, community centres and cafes.
Both West Sussex Mind and BHT Sussex offer group wellbeing workshops to learn more about your mental health and run activities in the community to bring people together and help them connect for their wellbeing.
Your personal information will be stored securely on the neighbourhood mental health team (NMHT) electronic patient record system within the geographical location you referred into. For example, if you refer to the Mid Sussex NMHT, your information will only be stored in the Mid Sussex area of the system.
All staff are trained to use the system, including how to input sensitive data, consent and confidentiality. All staff are required to abide by UK data protection laws and have training and policies to support this. Staff are not permitted to access information that is not relevant to the people they are working with.
Any premises used for in-person support will have access for people with mobility issues. We also offer virtual support as an option if travel is difficult for you. We welcome people to attend sessions with a carer.
There are also translation and interpretating services available for people getting support with Pathfinder West Sussex. If you would like to bring your own translator/interpreter, then please let the member of staff arranging the appointment know, and we can accommodate this.
British Sign Language is available and we can look at alternatives, such as speak-to-text functions.
Easy-read formats are available and we continue to work with our teams to make all communication easily accessible.
Please let us know if there is anything we can do that will make accessing our services easier for you.