Youth charity relaunches in Chichester

Chichester Information Shop for Young People has officially relaunched as the ‘Young People’s Shop’ on Friday, October 7 with a special ribbon cutting and celebration in South Street.

The relaunch aims to target younger people in the area that may be affected by mental health issues.

The event was attended by Mayor Julian Joy and the ribbon was cut by young people from Chichester High School, Bishop Luffa, Chichester Free School, Chichester College and the University of Chichester.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “The numbers of young people accessing our services has grown dramatically following Covid. Following lockdown, we relocated to new larger premises in 29 South Street.

"We had gone through a very difficult period during Covid in our old, cramped premises in which face-to-face sessions had become impossible.

"We have been very fortunate to have gained great financial support from a range of key national funders and a number of very generous local foundations. We have a wonderful team of volunteer counsellors and emotional support workers guided and supervised by our professional staff.

"We are now helping over 180 people every month; this is a big increase in activity since before Covid. Our services have never been in greater need.

“We reopened in the new premises last summer with a new team and increased funding base and we are now about to formally relaunch the operations with fresh branding under the name Young People's Shop.”

The Young People’s Shop charity supports mental health for young people between the ages of 11 and 25.

The charity aims to serve the needs of young people with a range of mental health issues and in need of counselling, emotional support, advice and guidance and is entirely supported by voluntary funding and relies heavily on volunteer workers.

The first official day of the relaunch coincided with World Mental Health Day, October 10, which saw the shop start the day introducing the charity to the year 7 students at The Academy, Selsey.

If you would like to find out more about the charity and the services that it provides visit https://yps-south.org.uk/