SEARCHING HELP YOURSELF Whats on Help Yourself

The Help Yourself website has details of over 5,000 clubs, groups and services in Sheffield. Areas covered are:

Advice and Counselling: including advice centres, counselling and therapy services, support for victims of violence or sexual abuse.
Community Care & Support: including community transport providers, home support/home care providers, community care providers, equipment & adaptations and lunch clubs.
Education: including literacy & numeracy support, English as a second language, citywide & community education providers, private tutors & music tutors.
Environment: including recycling facilities, local environment groups to join, animal welfare organisations.
Family Welfare: including single parent groups, relationship breakdown support, family support groups & services and bereavement support.
Funding: including funding for individuals and groups in Sheffield
Health: including organisations which give advice & information, support organisations for people who have alcohol or drug problems, support groups for people with specific health conditions, healthy living activities, sexual health organisations and services & support groups for pregnant women.
Housing: including housing area offices, accommodation agencies, housing associations, nursing homes, residential care homes, sheltered & unsupervised accommodation, supported accommodation, housing advice & support for homeless people, tenants & residents associations.
Religion: including all religious groups and places of worship in Sheffield.
Sport & Leisure: including martial arts groups, yoga, dance and art classes, rambling groups, swimming groups, drama groups, reading and writing groups, music groups and orchestras, craft societies, speakers for meetings and so much more.

We also have details of community centres and venues for hire.
Help Yourself also has details of groups & services for specific sections of the community including social and support groups for:
black & minority ethnic people, carers, children & young people, disabled people, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual & transsexual people, people with mental health problems and older people.

This is not an exhaustive list of what you will find on Help Yourself, but gives you an idea of the wealth of information you will find here

Searching Help Yourself

The Homepage

Quick Links to Help Yourself Categories:

On the homepage we have made quick links to some key areas of Help Yourself:

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for sport on Help Yourself eg if you click on Athletics, you will return all the Athletics clubs we have on the website. Some keywords include: Badminton, Running, Tennis, Sailing, Climbing, Table Tennis, Boxing, Cricket, Cycling, Ice Skating, Archery, Orienteering, Bowling, Fishing, Curling, Judo, Keep Fit. On this page you can also search Sporting Activities by Postal District and by Group (eg activities for older people etc). You can also access the weekly activities run by Activity Sheffield.

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for leisure activities on Help Yourself. Some keyword include: Yoga, Dance, Needlecrafts, Drama, Reading Groups, Writing Groups, Art, Crafts, Gardening, Beekeeping, Bellringing, Choirs. On this page you can also search Leisure Activities by Postal District and by Group (eg activities for older people etc).

On this page you will find links which will return welfare & support services and organisations for vulnerable people. Services include: bereavement support, home care providers, mental health support, support for homeless people, support for people suffering domestic violence, support for drug abuse, alcohol misuse, gambling etc.

You will also find on this page linkss which lead to pages specifically for people with learning disabilities, mental health issues, physical and sensory impairment and older people. For these groups of people you will find all the groups and services available on Help Yourself listed under convenient headings.

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for education on Help Yourself. Keywords include: Literacy, Numeracy, English as a Second Language, Adult Education, Colleges, Pupil Exclusions, Careers Guidance and a whole host of keywords to find Private Tutors, Computer and IT Tutor, Farsi Tutor, Chinese Tutor, Guitar Tutor, Translators and Interpreters.

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for health on Help Yourself. Keywords include: Chiropody, Cancer, Eating Disorders, Diabetes, Mastectomy, Pain, Parkinsons Disease, Patients Rights, Sexual Health.

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for children & families on Help Yourself. Keywords include: Fostering, Children’s Health, Youth Clubs, Parenting Skills, Family Support, Single Parents.

On this page you will find links to environmental groups and services on Help Yourself. Services and groups include: Energy Efficiency, Recycling, Tree Preservation, Nature Reserves, Conservation groups.

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for Black and Minority Ethnic groups in Sheffield. Keywords include: Arabic People, Chinese People, Slovak People, Gypsies, Iranian People, Refugees, Asylum Seekers.

On this page you will find all the keywords we have for all Religions & Philosophies in Sheffield. Keywords include: Baptist Churches, Buddhism, Ecumenical Organisations, Islam, Interfaith, Mosques, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Paganism.

On this page you can access pages for people with learning disabilities, mental health issues, physical and sensory impairment and older people, which can be used to help plan your care and support. On these pages you will find links to relevant health and social care organisations, support groups and a whole host of leisure activities to help you get out and about and make friends.

There are other search options on this page such as a Search by Word and a Neighbourhood search, which allows you to see what is available in your locality.

On this page you will find a Word search. Use this search if you know the name of the organisation you are looking for or you are searching for words that would appear in it’s description (up to a maximum of 4 words. The search will expect to find all the words you are searching with in the description or name. If you return no organisations you may want to limit the number of words you are searching with or think if other words may have been used).

If you are searching for an activity on a particular day type in the day in full eg “dancing Tuesday”. If an organisation meets Monday-Friday this is how you will find it in the description on our website. So if your return few or no results searching on “dancing Tuesday”, try doing the same search again but “dancing Monday-Friday”, to pick up any dance classes you did not pick up during your first search. Please note, that not every group or organisation tells us where and when they hold their activities, so it can be helpful to leave out days and postcode area (S8, S2 etc)when typing in your search.

Here you will find all organisations on Help Yourself grouped into lists.

This is a drop down list where you can select groups listed together, such as Advice Centres, Venues For Hire, Community Centres by Postal District, Lunch clubs by postal district, Speakers for Meetings etc.

Search by Keyword and Search by Keyword & Postal District

We have assigned keywords to all the clubs, groups and organisations on Help Yourself. If you select a keyword you are assured to find all the same types of groups and organisations on Help Yourself which fit this keyword. This search is more reliable than the “search by word” or free text search which relies on the word typed in being in the name or description of the organisation.

Simply scroll down the keyword list to see all the keywords available to you. You can also search using 2 keywords which together will narrow your search eg Health and Women, Refugee and Housing, Teenagers and Martial Arts, Older People and Keep Fit, Asian People and Lunch Clubs.

You can combine a keyword with a postal district to find groups in your local area

The Results Page

When you have made your search, you will be taken to a new page which lists the groups & services which have been found that fit your search criteria. This page gives the organisation name and the description of the organisation and then at the right hand side is a selection tick box. You can have a quick look at the descriptions and select the organisations you want to look at in more detail by ticking the box at the side of the organisation or alternatively, you can look at all the organisations by clicking on the “select all” button at the top of the table and then clicking on the “view full details” button at the bottom of the screen.

When you have clicked on the "view full details" button you will be taken to the "full results page". This will give you the full details of the organisations you have selected, including all contact details. You can print off these details from this page or click on the printer friendly link before printing off the details.

Click on the Help Yourself logo to carry on searching.

Help Yourself is an online directory of community groups, support groups, health and social care organisations in Sheffield. Here you will find leisure activities such as dancing, drama, reading and writing groups, art, music and youth clubs. You will find sports activities such as martial arts, yoga and pilates, rambling, swimming, keep fit, cycling, cricket, boxing. You will find groups for older people, people with mental health issues, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, homeless people, asylum seekers, refugees. You will find self help and support groups for drugs and alcohol, domestic violence, carers, gay lesbian and bisexual people, people with alzheimers, dementia and other health conditions. You can also plan your care and support and find home care/home support, residential care, respite care, lunch clubs and support if you receive an individual budget or direct payment. You can also find details of places of worship whatever your faith, recycling facilities and conservation groups, community centres, Taras, venues for hire, private tutors, literacy and numeracy and so much more.

Sheffield Community Information Service, Central Library, Surrey Street, Sheffield S1 1XZ,
Tel: 273 4763

The Help Yourself Database is provided on the Internet as part of a joint project between Sheffield Libraries & Information Services, Information School at The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.
Any comments or questions regarding the database should be sent to Heather Baxendale at scis@sheffield.gov.uk