Due to increased demand and pressures on our service in the last 3 years and the end of NHS COVID- recovery funding to support this, we have agreed that we need to change how young people access our service to best manage their needs.

We have worked collaboratively with commissioners and partners to agree how to manage this change and from 13th November 2023 this means we will sadly be pausing some of our referral pathways.

As an essential provider, we are dedicated to supporting 11-25-year-olds who are experiencing poor mental health, especially those who are particularly vulnerable, marginalised and discriminated against and for many of whom 42nd Street is their preferred and trusted source of support. However, with waiting times at unacceptably high levels, we are not able to maintain the quality of support that all young people deserve, and measures must be taken to address this.

Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to limit new referrals into our core one-to-one service to self-referrals from young people and referrals from social-care colleagues only from 13th November 2023.

What might this mean for you? 

Young people will continue to be able to refer themselves into all our core one-to-one services.
Young people already referred to our services from other routes before November 2023 will continue to receive support.

All of our separately funded services, including support for young people directly in schools and colleges, via our Integrated Community Response team, our groups, our creative programme at The Horsfall and services throughout Tameside will continue to operate as usual.

From November 13th 2023, we will no longer accept referrals from any professionals except for social care professionals and any parents/carers will need to support their children to self-refer.

What does this mean going forwards? 

We will continually monitor and review these arrangements to ensure that the service has time to stabilise and to prioritise meeting the needs of the 1000+ young people currently waiting for support.

The charity, led by our Board of Trustees, are working closely with colleagues across Greater Manchester, especially our NHS and Local Authority commissioners, specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) to manage this difficult situation as best as possible, with a view to lifting these limitations as soon as we can.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please direct them to Simone Spray (simonesprayoffice@42ndstreet.org.uk) and we will do our best to respond within 48 hours.

For more information 

Read our guide on how to refer yourself >> 

For information for parents / carers on supporting a young person >>

For services young people can access if in distress >>