A PROJECT to support young people deal with mental health issues in Wellington has been supported by local councillors to the tune of nearly £17,000.

Wellington Town Council agreed on Monday (March 6) to enter an agreement with the Mind in Somerset charity to provide £5,565 a year for three years to help fund a youth peer support group in the area from April.

A report said that around a third of Wellington’s population of 16,669 were aged up to 29 years and that just over 2,600 of these were in the age bracket of 11-24.

A Mental Health of Children and Young People survey carried out by the NHS in 2022 showed that an average of 20 per cent of young people between 11-24 would have a “probable mental health disorder.”

“This means there are potentially 522 young people in Wellington who require mental health support at any given time,” said the report. “Furthermore, this figure is likely to be an underestimation of the true figure due to undiagnosed mental health in children and young people.”

Cllr Catherine Govier said: “I’m very supportive of this as there are quite limited services in the town for young people.

“I think young people can really benefit from the peer support group and help with issues like loneliness and building up relationships.”

Cllr Chris Booth added: “There are young people in Wellington who are struggling with mental health problems and supporting this project with Mind is a no-brainer.”

Cllr Marcus Barr suggested that there was a “much bigger issue” to supporting the youth of Wellington.

“I don’t have a problem with the funding for Mind, but having too many organisations in the town starts to muddy the waters,” he said.

“I think there is a bigger issue here – we’ve lost our youth club for example. I think we, as a council, need to look at the youth services that are provided in Wellington as a whole.”

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “It would be great if we could have one service which could deliver everything, but I don’t think that is feasible.

“We are going to support Mind who are a national organisation and I’m very happy to throw my backing behind this.”

 Cllr Kieran Canhamsaid: “I support this completely and I think we need to look at seeing what we can do with youth services in the town.”

Cllr Chris Booth agreed and suggested that the matter be put on the council agenda for a future meeting.