“The course helped me get over my social anxiety… The course expanded my horizons”

“[My daughter] felt free for the first time. It’s probably the first space outside of the house that she’s felt like she can be her.”

“It helped me realise that other people were feeling the same as me and loved listening and playing music as much as I do.”

About Discovery College

Our courses aim to provide a safe and welcoming space for young people experiencing mental health challenges to meet new people, gain confidence and learn new skills. 

Every course is developed with a young person who has experienced mental health challenges (known as a peer), working alongside a subject specialist such as an artist, and/or a mental health practitioner. Together they design, develop and facilitate the course. This way of working is called co-production - to read more about co-production at Sussex Discovery College please see our co-production page.

To find out more about our current courses, please see our courses you can join page.

History of Discovery College

Sussex Discovery College started in 2015 in East Sussex. Sussex Recovery College for adults was proving a great success as an approach, supporting individuals to take control of their lives by enabling them to become an expert in their own wellbeing, so people could get on with their lives despite experiencing mental health challenges.

A key feature of this is that every course is co-created by someone with lived experience of mental health challenges as equal partners with subject specialists and/or mental health practitioners. Managers in Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) wondered whether something similar could be created for young people. This idea was very new. A few staff from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) took time out of their other work to run pilot courses. The feedback from the young people involved was very positive, and from there, Discovery College has continued.

Fortunately, CAMHS has a good tradition of involving young people in developing the service through its Participation Managers, so there were already young people ready to step up into the role of Peer Trainers and Trainee Peers.

There are only a handful of Discovery Colleges across the world. Each one is different. Sussex Discovery College has always favoured a creative slant to its courses. Many young people have reported that they like to approach thinking about mental health through developing their resilience and confidence and by attending courses focussed creativity and fun, rather than talking about difficult topics straight away and head on.

From the very start some dynamic arts and creative organisations were keen to work with us, and that tradition has continued (see Partners). East Sussex County Council was an enthusiastic partner too. Have a look at some of our past courses and projects.

Culture Shift made a successful bid to Arts Council England in 2020 for a considerable amount of money to involve new arts partners over a three-year period, including building this new website.

Since then, SPFT have made a firm commitment to developing Sussex Discovery College, and has recruited a Discovery College team to support the growth and development of the College.