Castle Point, Rayleigh and Rochford Partners

BOSP supports children and young adults with complex disabilities or life-limiting conditions, and their families, by providing high-quality, fun, educational activities, respite, peer support and counselling.

Castle Point Association of Voluntary Services (CAVS) is a not for profit charity and Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) with a strong community presence in Essex.

Formed in 1994, we are an established organisation, responding to the needs for sector partners to have access to good quality infrastructure services, help and guidance for individuals and volunteer recruitment, training and support.

CAVS provides information, advice and guidance to voluntary and community organisations, to develop solutions for local issues. We help match organisations and potential volunteers, aimed at improving their communities. We work with existing voluntary sector providers to extend their schemes as well as local statutory bodies to identify and develop new services. We have a strong and vibrant membership.

Our numerous projects and schemes are delivered across Essex. CAVS existing portfolio embraces many benefits to the local population, addressing specific local need, including working with vulnerable young people, children and families, social isolation, health and well-being.

We provide Essex residents (excluding Southend-On-Sea and Thurrock) with access to health checks; stop smoking services; weight management courses; and emotional health and wellbeing support. All of our services are free.

We are an independent, parent-led charity, providing specialist and person-centred support to families who have a child or young person with any special educational need or disability (SEND). We can offer:

• Information and advice, and a helpline;
• One to one support including assistance with Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP) applications;
• Independent parental support on all educational issues includes assessments, education health care plans and exclusions;
• Support through group activities including a Saturday Activity Club.

We give parents and their children a voice, and help families to navigate the system and access exactly what they are entitled to. We work alongside families, to empower and give confidence. 

“I honestly believe the support and guidance you provide is invaluable. I can’t thank you enough. I felt so supported and understood. When I couldn’t turn to others I could to Families InFocus.”

Our service is free to access, and anyone from Essex who has a child or young person with any SEND can get in touch.

Home-Start Essex aims to give families with at least one child aged under 5 the best possible start in life by supporting parents and caregivers to feel less isolated, to build their confidence in themselves and their parenting and to find ways to manage the challenges they face. We build trusting, helpful relationships with families and deliver a range of flexible support to meet their individual needs, including volunteer-led home visiting, family groups, wellbeing services, school-readiness, and behaviour support programmes.

Kids Inspire is a children’s mental health charity supporting children and young people aged 4-18 from low-income households and their families navigating mental health challenges and trauma. We do this through creative and arts-based trauma informed therapies, mentoring and community-based activities.  

Kooth.com is commissioned to provide an online wellbeing platform which along with text based counselling also includes helpful articles, forums, activity centre, daily journal and messaging. We provide British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy accredited services and Kooth is available to young people aged 11-18 in Essex. 

The service provides a free and non-judgemental place for children and young people to connect with others and know they are not alone. They have instant access to self-help materials, fully moderated discussion forums and tools such as online journals and goal trackers. They can also contribute written pieces of work reflecting their own experiences, as well as accessing drop-in or booked text-based counselling sessions with professional counsellors.

These are online services that offer anonymised support via online counsellors, available 365 days a year, 12pm -10pm on weekdays and 6pm-10pm on weekends. 

We provide free and confidential services to support people who are currently experiencing, or have previously experienced domestic abuse.

We are passionate about ensuring that every person has the opportunity to live their life free from domestic abuse.

Our staff and volunteers are trained to provide support at the highest possible standard, informed by the trauma the individual has experienced and led by their needs.  We provide immediate support and advice to promote safety and reduction in risk of harm and longer term support to promote emotional recovery and practical support wherever it is needed to enable planning for a safer future.

Community Support
We support people who are experiencing domestic abuse and don't feel able to or need to leave their home.  We are able to work with individuals in a community setting and can provide access to the same emotional and practical advice and support to promote safety and recovery for a safe and happy future.  We currently are able to offer services to individuals living in the local authority areas of Colchester, Tendring, Braintree, Chelmsford, Maldon and Uttlesford.

Refuge Accommodation
Our purpose-built accommodation provides a temporary home for up to 12 women and children who have reached crisis point. The flatlets are modern and well equipped.  Each new resident receives a practical “starter pack” when she arrives.  A key worker will support her and her family right from the beginning of their journey. When she leaves, we support her to begin her life’s next chapter.

Domestic abuse is rarely a single issue and many residents arrive needing specialist support to deal with substance misuse (drugs and alcohol). In our residential house, with nine flatlets, we provide professional, specialist support focused on the identified needs of women who are battling with this type of addiction to help them with their recovery journey.

Children & Young Persons Service
Children and young people are affected by domestic abuse too.  Our Children’s and Young People’s Team include Pre-school Practitioners, Creative Therapist and Children’s Support Workers.  We can provide a range of services including emotional support for children and young people, parenting support, family work, pre-school education, school holiday activities.  We also undertake some work in the community in partnership with local schools and other agencies.

Raising awareness of domestic abuse is a very important part of our work. In primary and secondary schools as well as in higher education, we talk to young people about healthy relationships and how to recognise the signs of abuse.

Partnering with parents, we support families whose children have additional needs or disabilities by providing compassion, guidance and hope.

The core aim of the Change Project is to promote personal wellbeing through enabling people to have healthy relationships in families, between individuals, and in the community.