EMERGE Leeds: Complex Emotional Needs Service

Journey is a 12 week Occupational Therapy group for adults (aged 18 and over) who experience complex emotional needs.

We offer a supportive space to explore how you spend your time, understand your emotions, and reconnect with what matters to you. Together, we look at how past experiences, relationships, and everyday routines can shape how life feels now, and how small changes can make things feel more manageable and meaningful.

Journey includes group sessions and individual support, helping you explore activities that support your wellbeing and quality of life.

The group runs online and in person in Leeds city centre. You need to live in Leeds and be registered with a Leeds GP to take part.

If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or wanting things to be different, Journey may be a place to start.

Who we are

We believe that how you spend your time, how you experience yourself, and how you connect with others all shape your health and wellbeing. Journey offers space to slow down, reflect, and gently explore these areas together.

The group aims to support you to engage in activities that can help you navigate complex thoughts and feelings, discover what matters to you, and move towards a life that feels more meaningful and manageable.

What we offer

Journey has two phases, designed to support exploration first, and change at your pace.

Phase one: group sessions

During the first phase, we meet as a group to explore themes such as:

• how you spend your time
• how you experience and manage emotions
• how past experiences affect the present
• what matters to you (your values)
• how your environments affect you

These sessions create space to reflect, share, be curious, and notice patterns together.

Phase two: individual work

In the second phase, you’ll work 1:1 with a member of the team to create a plan for engaging in an activity that feels meaningful to you, based on what we discovered together in phase one.

We then meet for two sessions to try out the plan and do the activity together. The programme ends with a final group session, offering time to reflect and bring your learning together.

Our approach is relational and strengths based. We aim to create a space where people feel safe, respected, and able to show up as themselves.

Where and how the group runs

Journey runs both online and in person, with face to face sessions held in Leeds city centre.

To access Journey, you need to:

• live in Leeds
• be registered with a Leeds GP

Journey may be a good fit for you if:

You find yourself struggling with things like:

• intense or overwhelming emotions, such as feelings of abandonment, rejection, guilt, or shame
• finding it hard to trust others or maintain relationships
• overthinking or replaying social situations, to the point where you stop doing things you enjoy
• feeling unsure about who you are, or feeling misunderstood by others

You might notice everyday challenges such as:

• getting stuck in certain activities to quiet your mind or reduce distress
• feeling out of balance between work, personal life, and self care
• finding it difficult to separate what you want from what you feel you should do
• spending much of your time focused on survival or simply “getting through the day”

You’re hoping to:

• see things differently and explore what change might feel like
• better understand your experiences
• reconnect with what you enjoy or want to do
• try something new or different
• be part of a group where people listen, support one another, and work together respectfully

Journey may not be the right fit right now if you:

• are currently in crisis or at very high risk of suicide or self harm, and need more immediate support
• are experiencing active psychosis or mania, which may make group work difficult at this time
• are using substances in a way that makes regular attendance or engagement hard
• have significant cognitive or developmental needs that would require major adaptations
• are mainly seeking support focused on an eating disorder
• are looking for a space to explore trauma or personal history in depth -Journey focuses on what you do day to day and how this connects with how you think and feel about yourself
• are unable to commit to regular attendance
• have a history of violent behaviour, or convictions for violence or sexual offences

What happens after referral?

After a referral, a member of the Journey team will contact you by phone. This is a chance to:

• learn more about what Journey involves
• talk about what you’re hoping to get from the group
• ask questions or share any concerns

We’ll also talk you through expected waiting times and when an assessment is likely to be offered.