We’re making it easier for you to get the support you need, when you need it.
From October 2025, Southdown’s Wellbeing Centres will begin reopening their doors for Open Access sessions. This means you’ll be able to drop into Open Access Sessions without a referral and speak directly to a member of our team.
What does this mean for you?
If you’ve ever wanted to find out more about our groups or simply talk to someone about what support it out there for improving your wellbeing, you can now just walk in.
Our friendly staff will be on hand to:
- Show you around the Centre
- Answer your questions
- Offer information and signposting to other support
- Complete a short needs assessment if you’d like to join our groups
There’s no pressure , you can take things at your own pace. If you’re not ready to take part straight away, that’s absolutely fine.
Launching in October: Uckfield and Hailsham
Open Access will begin in Uckfield and Hailsham during the week commencing 13th October 2025:
- Uckfield Wellbeing Centre: Every Tuesday, 12.30pm – 2.30pm
- Hailsham Wellbeing Centre: Every Thursday, 10am – 12pm
Expanding in November
From November 2025, Open Access sessions will also be available across our other Wellbeing Centres:
| ‘Open Access Session’ times from November onwards | |||||
| Time | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 10am-12pm | Eastbourne | Bexhill | Hailsham | ||
| 12.30pm – 2.30pm | Hastings | Uckfield | Newhaven | ||
Please note: We are not open on Bank Holidays.
You can find out more by visiting the Wellbeing Centres page linked here. Our Centre activity timetables can be viewed and downloaded from this page
Why we’re introducing Open Access
This change comes in response to valuable feedback gathered during our recent service redesign.
“During the redesign process, a theme that kept emerging was ease of access into services — both from people already using wellbeing services and from those not yet engaged in support.
-Stuart Reid, UOK East Sussex Partnership Lead
The response from our teams to mobilise an open access offer has been amazing. It’s a crucial step toward services that are available to people as soon as they need help and support, and that are easily accessed.”
Alisha Hiremutt, Service Manager for ESCN Wellbeing Centres and Peer Services, supporting the rollout, adds:
“The Open Access model is exciting because it means a lot more people can now access the service without long waiting lists. If people decide to go ahead with using our service, we help them fill in the forms — which otherwise can put off a lot of people. It’s great that public signposting information is now more accessible to everyone.”
Looking ahead
This new approach is an important part of our commitment to reducing barriers to mental health and wellbeing support. By creating welcoming, drop-in spaces in local communities, we’re making sure help is available at the right time, not just when things reach crisis point.
We’re excited to see the difference this makes for people across East Sussex and look forward to welcoming you to one of our Wellbeing Centres soon.
