REGARDING the letter from Tom Smith (August 14).

As one of the organisations mentioned in Tom’s letter, Andover Mind would like to respond to the call for a dropin centre for people with mental health issues.

Andover has a well-being centre opposite the police station in Westbrook Close.

It is open six days a week (9am-5pm Monday to Friday and 10am-3pm Saturday), and is available for anyone who wants advice and information on any issue surrounding mental health.

Our well-being service is open to any individual aged 18 or over and we accept self-referrals via dropin or appointment, website www.andovermind.org.uk/ contact-us/), email (advice@ andovermind.org.uk) or telephone (0300 5000 907).

Well-being services are free.

Support offered will be determined by individual need.

Some only require shortterm support. Others require longer-term care.

We always aim to be recovery focussed and to re-integrate service users back into the community once we have worked with them.

We also have a counselling service for adults which can be accessed by application.

An application pack is available by telephoning 01264 332297. There is a small charge for this service which is means tested.

A new free youth counselling service started on 1 September with financial support from Test Valley Borough Council, the Troubled Families Programme and national Mind.

We will work closely with schools and colleges as well as partner organisations. It is for those aged 13-23.

As Ross Fifield pointed out on July 17 one in three adults will suffer with a mental health problem in their lifetime so demand is always high.

In Andover alone, we helped in excess of 550 people in the last year in our well-being services.

Debra Ramchurn, Andover Mind, Westbrook Close, Andover