Get Help Now
Although we would love to be there for everyone, we do have some criteria for accessing our support. Imara can work with children or young people aged 0-18 living in Nottingham City or across the County of Nottinghamshire that have experienced child sexual abuse. Imara can also work with children or young people aged 3-18 living in Nottingham City who have been affected by domestic abuse. Imara can also provide support to safe family members of these children, including siblings, parents and carers. Depending on age, location and type of support needed, another service in our referral pathway may be offered instead of Imara.
How To Get Help
Please note we are not a crisis service and are unable to provide support urgently. If you are in immediate danger, call 999 or dial 18000 for textphone. If you are worried about your safety, or the safety of someone else, here are some other services which are available to contact at any time.
Childline – Call 0800 1111 www.childline.org.uk
Samaritans – Call 116 123 www.samaritans.org
Young Minds – Text ym to 85258 www.youngminds.org.uk
CAMHS Crisis Team (Nottingham) – Call 0115 9691300.
For children and young people
The most important thing is that you are safe. If you think you are in any danger at all, you should call the police if it is safe to use your phone. Call 999 or dial 18000 for textphone.
If you are safe now but in need of help for something that has happened to you or a friend, the best thing to do is speak to an adult that you trust.
This may be your parent, a teacher, a social worker, a support worker, or another adult in your family. You can share this website with them to let them know how to make a referral for you to Imara.
For families and carers
Wherever possible, we recommend referrals are made into our service by a professional who is familiar with your family and the situation. This may be a social worker, a police officer, a safeguarding lead or teacher at your child’s school, a support worker from another service, or someone else. You can share this page with them and ask them to complete a referral for your child.
If you aren’t sure about who may be able to make the referral for you, or have any trouble doing this, please get in touch with us and we will do our best to help.
If you live in a Nottingham City council postcode, we do accept self-referrals relating to domestic abuse from parents.
Parents and young people who are assessed to be Gillick competent can also self-refer for services relating to child sexual abuse through EMCYPSAS.
Please see the referral pathways below for how to make a self-referral.
For professionals: To make a referral related to sexual abuse
Referrals to Imara in relation to sexual abuse must come through the local paediatric sexual assault referral centre, Coral Cove (based at the Queens Medical Centre Hospital).
Call Coral Cove on 0800 183 0023 or visit the Coral Cove website.
Coral Cove is open 24 hours per day, seven days a week, including bank and public holidays.
Depending on the age and location of the young person and the type of support needed, their referral may be directed to another service in the referral pathway rather than to Imara.
For children and young people (0-18) in Nottingham City who have experienced sexual violence or abuse that are not eligible for therapeutic support via Coral Cove’s pathway, referrals for 1:1 and/or dyadic therapy can be made directly to Imara for children and young people (0-18).
For example, where their experiences relate to non-contact sexual abuse (e.g. online grooming or image-based sexual abuse), the disclosure is non-recent (i.e. not within the last 6 months) or they have already completed their therapeutic support via Coral Cove.
Please complete this referral form as fully as possible, and send as a password protected attachment or encrypted to in**@*******rg.uk.
If you have access to a CJSM email address, you can also submit referral forms to se************@********sm.net
Imara’s senior therapists will assess referrals and will be in touch to confirm whether we can offer support.
Please note we are not able to accept self-referrals, so please do not signpost young people or families to Imara. They will need you to make the referral as a professional.
For professionals: To make a referral related to domestic abuse
Please complete this referral form as fully as possible, and send as a password protected attachment or encrypted to in**@*******rg.uk.
If you have access to a CJSM email address, you can also submit referral forms to se************@********sm.net
If you have completed a safety plan with the young person or family, please attach a copy of this with the referral form.
Imara’s senior therapists will assess referrals to ensure it is safe to start work with the young person, and we will be in touch to confirm whether we can offer support. This may include seeking consent from the child’s safe parent to refer them to an IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Advisor) if they are not already working with an adult domestic abuse service such as JUNO or Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
Please note we are not able to accept self referrals, so please do not signpost young people or families to Imara. They will need you to make the referral as a professional.
For professionals: To make a referral for therapy through the Adoption Support Fund
We are a registered provider on the Adoption East Midlands (AEM) framework for Nottinghamshire. We offer post-adoption support for children and young people who are adopted or placed on special guardianship order.
We provide a range of specialist trauma informed creative arts and play therapies to adopted children and young people, as well as support group programs.
For further information about our referral process, please contact in**@*******rg.uk