Advice

DEBT AND MONEY \\ HOUSING

ENERGY EFFICIENCY \\ EMPLOYMENT

HEALTH AND WELLBEING \\ CAREERS

BUDGETING \\CV WRITING \\

We're there to help, support and advise

On the day, at the Galleries Blue Monday event you will find lots of organisations have a stall or information point to help you access the support that you need. There will be five advice themes; Debt and Money, Employment and Training, Energy and Water, Housing and Health and Wellbeing.

Below are the partner organisations for each theme and some of the organisations that will be there on the day.

Other Energy and Water organisations there on the day are:

Bristol Energy

Bristol Energy Network

Wessex Wate

Bristol Dementia Action alliance

Samaritans

Bristol MindLine

Rethink Mental Illness

Second Step/Horizons

HOUSING

Shelter helps millions of people across the UK every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that one, no one will have to turn to us for help.

We provide people with the best possible help to solve their housing problems. Free accessible advice is available in our face-to-face advice Hub in Bristol, on our website and via expert advisers on our helpline.

The Centre for Sustainable Energy's Home Energy Team provides free, impartial energy saving advice. This includes advice on keeping warm and well in winter, cutting your energy bills, referrals for home visits and funding for energy saving improvements.

Speak to us about help with accessing the Warm Home Discount (£140 rebate on electricity bills); help to access the energy companies and WPD Priority Services Register. We can offer home visits for more complex bill or switching enquiries, heating controls advice e.g. controlling night storage heaters, and condensation, damp and mould advice.

ENERGY AND WATER

Ways 2 Work

Babbasa

Learndirect

Bristol Learning Communities

Other Employment organisations there on the day are:

Prince's Trust

Avon and Somerset police

WECIL (The West of England Centre for Inclusive Living)

HEALTH & WELLBEING

Bristol Water

Other Housing organisations there on the day are:

Care and Repair

Places for people

Knightstone

Bristol City Council

Citizens Advice Bristol offers free, independent, confidential, and impartial advice to anyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality, for more information visit www.bristolcab.org.uk . We help people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers.

Cash Pointers is a Big Lottery funded project run by 1625 Independent People. The project is open to all young people aged 16-25 in social housing in Bristol and the surrounding area. We're here to improve financial confidence and provide access to appropriate and safe products and services. Although the project is aimed at young people in social housing, we can work with young people in other circumstances, such as care leavers or those vulnerably housed. Together we have loads of experience and resources to help people learn how to manage their money. It's a skill that stays with you for the rest of your life.

Visit us at Blue Monday to have an informal chat with a friendly member of our team about the support we can offer around your finances. You can take part in our taste test to see if you can really tell the difference between branded and supermarket products, and you’ll also have the opportunity to try your hand at making your own low cost cosmetics! We will also have plenty of information on how to reduce your utility bills, and top tips on how to make day-to-day savings.

DEBT AND MONEY

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Talking Money has dedicated its mission to, “improving lives by tackling financial problems,” since 1990; empowering people to take control over their lives. We work in Bristol and the surrounding areas to increase financial inclusion through supporting people with accessing benefits, reducing debt and expenditure and tackling arrears and fuel poverty. We meet people every day who face many challenges like sickness, old age, disability and even sudden changes in life like divorce and finances can simply be an extra stress. We aim to be there for people in those times, helping them find long lasting solutions. As one service user said, “I came having had no sleep, distressed, anxious about money and housing issues. I left in control of my situation rather than being controlled by it.”

Do you need help balancing your household budget? If you find yourself spending too much on your shopping, dread your utility bills arriving or you’re baffled by banking, Pennywise is here to help!

We offer a bespoke advice service for Bristol residents aged 26 or over, giving practical tips, tools and advice to help you take control of your money.

Pop along and see us at Blue Monday to find out how we can help you make your money work better for you! You’ll be able to pick up our free money-saving tools, including calendars, meal planners and smart shopping booklets, get tips for low-cost wellbeing and see how well our home made cosmetics work.

We’ll also be partnering up with our fellow budgeting project Cash Pointers to run own brand versus branded taste tests – do you think you can tell the difference?

Are you aged 16 – 25? Do you need advice on:

• Debt
• Housing
• Homelessness
• Employment
• Discrimination
• Welfare Benefits
• Health & Support Services
• Immigration

If you are having difficulties in any of these areas, we can make sure you get the right advice to tackle the problems you face. We can help you to sort out the immediate problems and then work with you to build coping strategies and a plan so you can avoid crisis situations in the future. We aren’t here to tell you what to do, we will work with you to find out what support you need to help you get to where you want to be.

Based in Bristol, Ask Us is a partnership between ABLC, 1625 Independent People and Citizens Advice, helping you access local services, understand your rights and work towards independence.

We will work with young people to reduce poverty, help them manage their money and improve health and wellbeing.

We’re here to help young people, so we think it’s important that young people have a say in what we do and how we do it. We’ll be setting up a Youth Board to represent young people in the city, helping to shape young people’s services and working alongside the Youth Mayor and national youth forums.

We’re Himilo Training, the training arm of Ashley Community Housing.

We work with learners and employers to create and deliver life-changing opportunities, remove barriers and supply outstanding teaching, learning and assessment activities. We run courses in subjects including ESOL, employability, child care, health and social care, and creative writing.

At the Blue Monday event we’ll be promoting what we do and signing people up to our courses. We’re also interested in finding out about any training courses the community want that we are not currently offering – come along and complete one of our “tell us more” postcards and enter our prize draw.

The National Careers Service offer a free service accessible to all adults in England. At the National Careers Service, we believe in supporting people from all walks of life, improving the life chances of everyone regardless of their abilities. We are supporting Blue Monday because we recognise that everyone has the potential to achieve their career goals and it is our aim to help as many people as possible to get there.

Anyone coming to Blue Monday can speak to one of our friendly, qualified careers advisers who can help you to understand the job market, create or develop CV's and interview skills, whilst also letting you know about the various training courses available. We provide personalised information and guidance, that’s why we offer telephone appointments and face to face meetings in the community. It is this tailored advice that we believe to be key in effectively helping people to develop their existing skills and finding education or training courses that will help them secure their ideal job role.