Your journey through Pathways Coaching and Learning

The Life Rooms will primarily be supporting people who are currently accessing support from clinical mental health teams. 

While we will continue to take self-referrals from people who are not receiving mental health care, this will be dependent on our eligibility criteria, and on availability of appointments. 

We will be introducing time-managed access to our services, as our support pathway should help service users to develop the confidence, skills and knowledge they need to continue managing their health and wellbeing independently on discharge from the service, and connect them to community resources.

Our buildings and services will be a stepping stone on people's journeys towards their goals.

What hasn't changed?

The Life Rooms remains free to access, and still offers support with social needs, wellbeing, learning, employment, digital skills and community connections.

Reasonable adjustments will continue to be available to our service users.

Self-referrals are still possible, subject to eligibility and availability. If The Life Rooms isn't the right service for your needs, or if we're unable to offer support at that time, we'll do our best to signpost you to other organisations and community resources that may be able to help.

Who we're here to support: 

Our Pathways Advice Service and Learning courses are for people who would benefit from extra support with their social circumstances, and their mental health and wellbeing, that would support them to recover from a period of ill mental health or help prevent their wellbeing from becoming worse.

• Age 18+
• Individuals currently accessing support from Mersey Care mental health clinical teams. This is not a complete or limited list of referral routes, we will continue to expand reach and partnerships:

• This service is for people who would benefit from social health interventions that support recovery, prevention, or wellbeing.
• Those at risk of developing or experiencing a deterioration in mental health and wellbeing where structured support is likely to help. 

Who we may not be the right support for: 

• People who have accessed The Life Rooms Pathways and Learning services within the previous 24 months will be unable to re-engage with the service following discharge, unless there is a clear and evidenced change in an individual’s circumstances or needs. We will review each request for re-engagement to the service on a case-by-case basis.
• People who are receiving equivalent support elsewhere, where it wouldn’t provide benefit to the individual to have duplicate support. 

Please note: 

The Life Rooms services are primarily there to support people who are currently accessing support from clinical mental health teams. We do take self-referrals from people who are not receiving mental health care; however, we may need to direct you elsewhere for support if we do not have any appointments available.

The Life Rooms are not a crisis support service or a clinical mental health service. We are a non-urgent support service. If you need urgent mental health support, please call NHS 111 and select the mental health option, or access NHS 111 online via: 111.nhs.uk 

You can also find more information about urgent support on the Mersey Care website.

Our current Life Rooms members who have recently taken part in Learning sessions and would ordinarily be ineligible due to accessing the service within the last 24 months, will have the option to continue receiving Pathways Advice and Learning support between September 2026 and December 2026. 

We’re here to support you to take your next steps beyond The Life Rooms, through our Learning courses and coaching, and can signpost you to other support available in your community.

Our cafe and library space in Walton are still available Monday to Friday, with time-managed access, even if you are not enrolled on our Learning courses.

From Tuesday 1 September 2026, The Life Rooms Southport will be appointment/session and computer-use only. If you are booked on to Learning sessions in the morning and afternoon of the same day, you are welcome to use our waiting area.

• We process our referrals within 2 working days (Monday to Friday),
• One of our Pathways Coaches will contact you to tell you more about The Life Rooms, have a chat about what your needs are, and confirm that you’re eligible to access the service,
• We will take time to understand any additional support or reasonable adjustments you need to be able to access the service, if any,
• We’ll talk you through what the next steps are and arrange an appointment for you at one of our sites,
• We will then support you with any social needs you might have, and/or enrol you onto our Learning courses that can support with your needs.

If you have been referred: 

We will process your referral within 2 working days (Monday to Friday) and then a Pathways Coach will contact you (usually telephone call) to book an appointment. 

If you are making a self-referral: 

You can self-refer* online via our referral form, you can visit our Walton or Southport sites and request an appointment** with a Pathways Coach, or you can call us on: 

0151 478 6556 – The Life Rooms Walton 01704 383 198 – The Life Rooms Southport 

*We have eligibility screening to determine if the support The Life Rooms offers is right for you. You may be signposted to another service if you are not eligible for support at The Life Rooms. 

**We work on an appointment system and can’t guarantee we will have same-day appointments available, so you might be asked to return on another day. 

During your first appointment with a Pathways Coach, you will: 

• Be asked to complete a quick self-assessment (MYCaW) of how your wellbeing is and what your concerns/needs are – we will then revisit this at a future check-in appointment to see if there has been any change,
• Work with your Pathways Coach to discuss your needs and priorities, and then create a support plan together that might include attending Learning sessions, meeting with a Health and Wellbeing Coach, getting digital support or finding help with employment,
• Be offered practical support or referrals to places that can support with practical issues you might be having e.g. finances, social activities and support networks, carer’s support and more,
• Book an induction with our Learning team, if you are progressing into our courses.

After your first appointment with a Pathways Coach, you’ll be booked on to an induction with our Learning Team who can give you more details about each of our courses and how they’re designed to support your specific needs. The Learning Team will book your spaces on our courses.

If you are referred to our Learning courses, you have the option to start a twelve-week programme of learning. 

However, that doesn’t mean you have to attend for twelve weeks or are limited to only twelve weeks – we create a plan together, and we review it regularly, so that you are getting the support that’s right for your needs. Alongside a member of our Learning Team, you will look at what courses are available and think about what your needs are, then choose courses that can support you. 

After your first twelve weeks, you may feel like you’ve made progress to support with your needs, and you might be discharged from the service. If you still have progress to make, you can continue your journey for another twelve-week programme of learning. We’ll review your progress along the way. 

The maximum amount of time you will be able to spend in The Life Rooms Pathways Advice and Learning service is twelve months. This will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

At The Life Rooms Walton, we have a café that includes healthy breakfast, lunch and snack options, as well as range of hot and cold drinks. 

To ensure we have fair, appropriate use of our café space and seating available for customers, our tables are available to customers enjoying food and drinks for:

• One hour - hot drinks
• Two hours - meals

Food and drink from outside sources are not permitted in our café for health and safety reasons. A water dispenser is available.

Please note: You do not need to be enrolled onto Learning sessions or attending a Pathways appointment to be able to use our café.

Can I bring food or drink to The Life Rooms Southport? 

If you are booked onto sessions in the morning and afternoon of the same day, you are permitted to bring a cold packed lunch with you to our Southport site. There are also plenty of cafés in the local area. We encourage service users to take a break from our sites for their wellbeing if they have morning and afternoon sessions booked, there are nearby areas for short walks. Please be respectful of our spaces and other service users by putting any waste in our bins or taking this away with you.

We have computers at both our Walton and Southport sites, which any of our service users can use. You do not need to be enrolled on Learning courses or having a Pathways appointment to be able to use our computers.

To ensure we have fair access for our service users, our computers are available to use for up to 2 hours per day. You can request more time for longer tasks such as job applications, online training, and searching and applying for housing. This is at the discretion of our reception team. 

Our computers are there to support learning, wellbeing, and development, and should be used safely and respectfully.

Yes, we have a Liverpool City Council library based in The Life Rooms Walton which is open to the public and our service users to join. We have a range of children’s and adult’s books, fiction, non-fiction, and self-help books. 

Walton Library is based in a Carnegie Library – gifted to the City of Liverpool in 1911 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie – a place where Carnegie believed people should be able to access knowledge and education to improve their lives. 

You are welcome to browse, check-out, and read books for up to 2 hours each day, to ensure fair access for visitors. 

Our library is intended to be a quiet space, although we sometimes have visiting groups using the space. Please be respectful of our spaces and other visitors/service users by keeping noise to a minimum so that everyone can enjoy the library. 

We do have waiting areas at our Southport and Walton sites that can be used before appointments and sessions. Please review our guidelines for each site:

The Life Rooms Walton

• Appointments: Please arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before your appointment, we have seats available while you wait
• Learning sessions: Please arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before your session, we have seats available while you wait
• Cafe: To ensure fair access in our cafe space, tables are allocated for 1 hour for hot drinks, and 2 hours for meals
• Library: To ensure fair access in our library, you can use the space to browse and read for up to 2 hours
• Computers: To ensure fair access to our computers, these are available to use for up to 2 hours per day, unless a time extension is agreed

The Life Rooms Southport

• Appointments: Please arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before your appointment, we have seats available while you wait
• Learning sessions: Please arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before your session, we have seats available while you wait
• Computers: To ensure fair access to our computers, these are available to use for up to 2 hours per day, unless a time extension is agreed
• From Tuesday 1 September, our Southport site will be appointment/session and computer use only
  • If you are booked on to Learning sessions in the morning and afternoon of the same day, you are welcome to use our waiting areas during the break