3. Frome Neighbourhood Team

Local Networks and forums meetings

The Frome area hosts a number of amazing local Networks and forums meetings, more information on these and how to attend can be found below:

Frome CYP Mental Health Forum

This runs quarterly as a Hybrid session in-person at the Town Hall and online on Teams.

This meeting brings together organisations and services that support children, young people and families Mental Health across Frome and the surrounding area. This is an opportunity for up to date information sharing about the services available, look at partnership opportunities but also an chance to gather evidence of themes or gaps in the local offer.

If you are interested in joining the CYP Mental Health forum invite list please contact Melody Hunter Evans on mhunterevans@frometowncouncil.gov.uk there is no expectation that you attend all meetings and anyone on the invite list will also receive the minutes for all meetings.

Frome Under 5’s Network

This runs quarterly as a Hybrid session in-person at the Town Hall and online on Teams.

The Under 5’s Network is a network of organisations and individuals that support families from pre-pregnancy to five years old in the Frome area. The network looks at provision in the local area and also at gaps in the local offer, it a space for sharing resources, knowledge and information and aims to avoid overlap of services. It’s aims are to give a stronger collective voice when working in the decision making process and is a great space to share best practice.

If you are interested in joining the Frome Under 5’s Network invite list please contact Melody Hunter Evans on mhunterevans@frometowncouncil.gov.uk. There is no expectation that you attend all meetings and anyone on the invite list will also receive the minutes for all meetings.

Frome Neighbourhood meeting

The Frome Area Neighbourhood meeting looks at the strategic needs of residents across the Frome Area particularly focusing on early help and support. Representatives from Education, Health and the Voluntary, Community sector come together to look at emerging themes, key gaps in the local offer and often work with colleagues and commissioners from Somerset Council to look at the wider picture and develop partnerships and solutions.

If you are interested in joining the Frome Area Neighbourhood Meeting invite list please contact Emma Lacey-Williams elaceywilliams@frometowncouncil.gov.uk. There is no expectation that you attend all meetings and anyone on the invite list will also receive the minutes for all meetings.

Frome Youth Network

This is led by the team at YMCA and includes community organisations focused on supporting CYP’s and their families. This is a networking and information sharing meeting, to look at possible collaboration, gaps in the local offer and funding needs.

The network runs quarterly and for more information or an invite to the next meeting please contact Mark Willcox: MarkWillcox@ymca-bg.org.

A Family Intervention Worker shares how a single mother was helped back on her feet by Connect Somerset.

The Family Intervention Service referred me to a single mum who needed support after fleeing domestic abuse. Mum and baby were socially isolated, so visits from myself and a Social Worker would often be the only human interaction mum had.

I gradually encouraged mum to rebuild her confidence, which included:

• Visits to the local library and the bank together to apply for available funding
• Referrals for addition support through the Job Centre and Christians Against Poverty
• Attending a local wellbeing event unaccompanied which included speaking to a work coach
• Securing a part-time job and thriving in the new role

The whole journey of support has taken just over a year and was a combined effort from just some of the amazing support networks available for free in Somerset.