Friends and Places Together is a small, Southend based charity helping vulnerable, young people to see their friends or make new friendships outside of school and college.

The charity provides the opportunity for young people to socialise independently with others and their motto is “everyone has the right to have friends and a social life”.

They support people in the community rather than in their homes, from a venue at the Victoria Shopping Centre with cooking and leisure space. The charity gives young people the opportunity to go out, make friends and have a social life with other young people with similar interests.

Staff help and encourage clients to make informed choices on how they want to use their support time. The list of activities is endless – just a few examples include football, bowling, cooking, shopping, go karting, cinema, gym, beauty, walking, gaming, swimming, snooker, pubs, crazy golf, adventure island, base jump and many more.

They also arrange day trips for Under 18s and holidays for Over 18s – anything from Butlins and Centre Parcs to Spain, Turkey, Disney Paris/Florida, Ibiza, and cruises.

Supporting a healthy social life helps build confidence and self-esteem, while gaining experience to build basic everyday life skills.

Services:

• Under 18s – Teenspirits is for young people between the ages of 16-19 to meet each week at the Centre or in the community, in friendship groups of between 6-8. Between the ages of 18-19 they help them transition into the over 18s group.
• Over 18s – This service is for clients between the ages of 18-25 in smaller friendship groups of between 2-4.

Services are available throughout the year including school holidays, however they do close over the Christmas period.