First Steps to Freedom

PO Box 476
Newquay
TR7 1WQ

Tel (helpline): 0845 120 2916
Tel (office): 0845 120 2916
Web: www.first-steps.org
Best time to telephone: Helpline: 10am - 10pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

First Steps to Freedom is a registered charity which aims to help, in a practical way, people who suffer from phobias, obsessional compulsive disorder (excessive washing, checking, unwanted thoughts), those with general anxiety, panic attacks, anorexia and bulimia, and those who wish to come off tranquillisers, together with help and support for their carers. Services offered by the group include the following:

• A confidential helpline.
• Practical advice on how to overcome anxiety disorders, or how to overcome withdrawal from tranquillisers.
• Telephone self-help groups - which are run on a regular basis whereby people get together over the telephone, talk through their anxieties with a trained leader, set themselves goals and steps towards those goals.
• One-to-one telephone counselling - whereby a sufferer or carer contacts a volunteer on a regular basis.
• Leaflets, self-help booklets, videos, audio tapes and books.
• Relaxation audio tapes.
• Advice and training - for those who wish to start their own group.
• Membership - benefits include pen-pal list, correspondence course, telephone self-help groups and a regular newsletter.