Our History

Offers free support to children, young people and families throughout the Borough of Bromley. We are based in central Bromley and have been supporting children and young people since 1965. The charity was originally set up as The Bromley Youth Project in 1965 as a pilot and was funded by the YWCA in response to young people needing for social support to help maintain their emotional wellbeing.

The project was based in a room above a café in Bromley High St; however, Bromley Y grew out of this space and moved into a flat next to Marks and Spencer. In 1980 the charity moved into the 17 Ethelbert Road building. The house in Ethelbert Road was owned by a housing association and Bromley Y occupied the ground floor and basement with the two top floors housing vulnerable young people.

In the late 90’s, Bromley Y needed to buy the property when, due to a change in housing regulations, it was no longer possible to run a business within a housing association property. This led to a big fund-raising drive and with the support of friends, other charities, and the National Lottery Fund, Bromley Y succeeded in buying the lovely old house where they are still based, in 1999.

For the first time in its history, Bromley Y was able to buy new furniture! The charity has always encouraged young people using the service to participate in how the service is run and they helped chose everything from the furniture to the pictures on the walls and the layout of the rooms.
The charity evolved during the 1960’s and 70’s and by the 1980’s was offering counselling, group work, drop-ins and support in schools as well as to other professionals who worked with children and young people. Moving into Ethelbert Road enabled the service to meet the emotional and mental health needs of more young people in the borough and, in 2001 could offer support for young people from the age of 11-23 years, meaning that the service could work with children and young people throughout secondary school and the transition into either college, university or employment.

In 2014, Bromley Y won the tender to host The Bromley Community Wellbeing Service, working with children, young people and families from 0 – 18 years old, as the single point of access for mental health support offered to these young people in the Bromley borough.

Bromley Y won the tender to provide the first ‘Trailblazer’ Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools in Bromley.

Bromley Y now has three mental health support teams, working in many Bromley primary schools and all Bromley Local Authority secondary schools.
The MHSTs provide early intervention support to pupils, parents and staff.
The work is collaborative; working with schools and their Mental Health and Wellbeing Leads (MHWLs) in order to support the needs of the young person and develop the idea of a ‘Whole School Approach’.

Bromley Y was awarded the tender in 2021 to provide the Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Service (MHEWs) which reaches out into the community offering advice, signposting, group work as well short-term, low to medium level interventions to children, young people and parents/carers. We work in a systemic way, collaborating with other services to ensure that the young person’s needs are kept at the centre of our pathway planning.

In April 2024 Bromley Y’s Integrated Single Point of Access went live in collaboration with CAMHS.

This provides a seamless pathway for referrers seeking support for CYP with emotional wellbeing and mental health concerns.

The iSPA team is made up of workforce members from both CAMHS and Bromley Y, providing a mix of skills, knowledge and experience.