A structured programme of sessions covering every dimension of adolescent health — led by qualified practitioners, free to attend, and shaped around real families in this community.
Our core work is running a structured programme of free evening information sessions for parents and carers of teenagers living in and around Arbroath. Sessions are held throughout the year — typically one every six to eight weeks — at accessible locations including community centres, school premises, and local venues with good transport links.
We keep them free and deliberately informal: there are no name badges, no worksheets to fill in, and no pressure to share anything you don't want to. A qualified health professional facilitates each session, and we invite questions throughout rather than saving them to the end, because in our experience the best conversations happen when people feel comfortable enough to interrupt.
Beyond the sessions themselves, we maintain a small library of printed and digital resources that parents can take away or access through our website, and we signpost to local and national services throughout everything we do. We also work directly with Arbroath Academy and Arbroath High School to ensure our programme complements — rather than duplicates — what young people are receiving in school.
When a school nurse or year head identifies a cohort of parents who might particularly benefit from a session, we have the flexibility to respond with a tailored evening. This kind of responsive, community-embedded practice is what distinguishes us from national programmes that arrive in a community briefly and then leave.
Information you can actually use 📋
Each evening focuses on one theme. Topics rotate throughout the year — contact us to find out what's coming up next in Arbroath.
An evening dedicated to helping parents understand anxiety, low mood, and emotional dysregulation in adolescents.
Facilitated by a Tayside-based adolescent mental health practitioner, this session walks parents through the difference between typical teenage moodiness and signs that warrant professional support. We cover how to open a conversation with a young person who is withdrawing, what to do if you're worried, and how to access CAMHS and other local services. Parents consistently rate this as one of our most valuable evenings.
A practical, science-grounded session on how technology and sleep deprivation affect adolescent development.
Drawing on current neuroscience and NHS guidance, this evening examines how the teenage brain responds to screen stimulation, why sleep matters more during adolescence than at almost any other life stage, and what parents can realistically do at home to support healthier habits. We avoid moral panic and focus instead on practical, evidence-based strategies that don't require you to wage war with your teenager every night.
An honest, non-judgmental briefing on substance awareness for parents of teenagers in secondary school.
This session is consistently one of the most requested in our programme. Led by a practitioner with experience in adolescent substance misuse, it covers what young people are actually encountering, what the research says about harm reduction, and how to talk to a teenager about drugs and alcohol without the conversation ending immediately. We provide up-to-date local data on substance use among Angus young people and clear information on where to seek help.
A frank, respectful evening covering puberty, relationships, consent, and sexual health for parents.
Working alongside a school nurse and a Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) educator, this session helps parents understand what their teenager is — and isn't — being taught at school, and how to complement that at home. We discuss puberty across genders, the landscape of online relationships and pornography, consent conversations, and access to contraception and sexual health services in Angus. The session is delivered with care and without embarrassment.
Warm, informal, always welcoming 🌙
Led by qualified practitioners 🤝
No referrals needed, no forms to fill in. Just turn up. We'll be there — and so will a room full of parents who understand.
Find out what's on next