A new mental health drop-in service for young people in York has opened.

York Mind has developed the new service for young people aged 14-21 years (25 with SEND) called YorChoice.

YorChoice is a National Lottery funded project and has been developed with more than 400 young people over two years. It is designed to overcome barriers to accessing mental health support and helping young people address any difficulties as soon as possible.

The drop-ins provide information and signposting to other relevant services, group spaces and activities, calm/quiet zones and confidential spaces. It is free, with no referral process – young people can just turn up.

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The drop-ins are every Monday and Thursday evening from 4pm-7pm and are run by experienced staff and volunteers. The Thursday drop-in is always at Highcliffe House (just off Clifton Green) at the home of York Mind.

Monday drop-ins take place at different venues around the city to make the service as accessible as possible to young people.

A young person on York Mind's steering group welcome the initiative, saying: "When waiting lists are months long, it feels really isolating because you're struggling and there's not any face-to-face help.

"The drop in will massively help by giving you someone to talk to while you wait."

A calendar of dates and events can be found on the Yormind website www.yormind.org.uk. Any young person, parent or carer can email us for more information at Yorchoice@yorkmind.org.uk.