Linking you to what matters!
Link Forward
Welcome to Link Forward!
Link Forward is Southmead Development Trust’s social prescribing service for children and young people. We work with young people aged 7 – 12 years who are facing any issues which are impacting on their wellbeing.
Lots of things might affect your wellbeing – for example you might be starting a new school, finding it hard to make friends or you might be struggling with anxiety or feeling low. We will work with you to think about what change you might like to see in your life. Would you like to go to a group or activity where you could meet new friends with similar interests? Do you want some specific support with your mental health? Do you want to find a club that will help you be more active?
Together we will come up with a plan that works for you.
We also work with parents and carers. Sometimes this might be to signpost you to parent support and sometimes it might be linking you to services that can help you with your own wellbeing.

Resilience Lab - Term Time sessions
Is there something that’s proving hard to deal with?
This is an opportunity for young people to come along to an in person group at the Greenway Centre. Learn some techniques to help them to cope with life’s challenges, for example coping with school worries.
Tuesdays
4:15pm – 5pm
A block of 4 weekly sessions in term time.
Open to 7 – 12 year olds (registered at one of the eligible GP practices, see below).
Sign up> email: vickywall@southmead.org, or call: 0117 950 3335
How does Link Forward work in term-time?
When we receive a referral from the GP or school, one of our Link Workers will contact the parent or carer so that we can hear their view about what is going on for their child. We will then set up sessions with the young person. This might take place at their school or it might be in the community somewhere, like here at the Greenway Centre.
Our sessions aim to be a fun and safe space! They give the young person a space to talk about what is important to them and what they would like support with. Once we know what a young person might be interested in, we can make a plan about how to connect them with it. We like to involve lots of play and creative arts – things like games, painting and drawing.
We can see a young person for up to 6 sessions and we’ll check back in with the parent or carer.
We currently work with 11 GP practices in North Bristol. A young person must be registered with one of these in order to come and see us. These GP practices are: Gloucester Road Medical Centre, Horfield Health Centre, Southmead and Henbury Family Practice, Shirehampton Group Practice and Pioneer Medical Group (Bradgate, Ridingleaze and Avonmouth), Westbury-on-Trym Primary Care Centre, Sea Mills Surgery, Monks Park Surgery, Greenway Community Practice, Fallodon Way Medical Centre.

Supporting Children like Lylie-Mae
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Charlie’s Wellbeing with our Link Forward Service
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Link Forward Celebrate New Funding
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Parkour at the Greenway Centre for ages 7 – 12
Read more >Our groups for young people are run in partnership with




