College Christmas opening hours and “The 17 Days of Christmas”

Once a year, during the Christmas holidays, the College shuts its doors and officially closes. This is the only time of the year that the team all take a well deserved rest at the same time, turn off the phone lines, close their emails, switch off and enjoy time off with their friends and family.

This year, the College will be closed from Saturday 16th December 2023 to Monday 1st January 2024 (inclusive). During this time, all calls will go to our voicemail messaging service and emails will not be responded to. Any voicemails, text messages, enrolments or emails that we receive during this period will not be responded to until we return in the first week of January 2024.

Whilst we’re away, we’re not leaving you all high and dry! As we have done for the last few years, we’re running our “days of Christmas” social media event. For each day that we’re away (17 days this year), we will have a new activity, mindfulness exercise, or Christmas pastime listed on all six of our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for both the Recovery College and the Discovery College). So, try not to miss us too much and instead log on each day to see what new thing you can try!

We’ve also been working hard, alongside the positive mental health network (PMHN), to pull together some places you can go over the festive period to keep warm, meet people, join in with groups or activities, get help with food, go for a free meal for those in need or lonely, or go to for support. You can find full lists on the two documents below, with the first one also listing support lines and drop in centres open over Christmas on pages 9, 10 and 12. The second document focuses on food banks, food provision, places to go for a hot meal, and a free Christmas morning breakfast.

We know that this time of year isn’t always easy or magical for everyone, but there is support out there. Please do click on both of the below blue brushstrokes to view all of the help and support available to us this Christmas.

Updated Christmas Provisions list PMHN 2024 (PDF, 1 MB)

Christmas provisions (ZIP, 7 MB)

Merry Christmas everyone. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2024.

Best wishes, from the whole of the College team.