You Counselling calls for funding to continue helping the Portsmouth community

The News, Portsmouth

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00:00So my name's Bex and I am the clinical lead here at Counselling With You.

00:05Perfect, so yeah, Counselling With You. So yeah, would you be able to briefly explain

00:08what that is and the services you provide? Yeah, sure. So Counselling With You, we've

00:13been here for five years offering support and counselling to the people of Portsmouth.

00:20Our counselling team is available to people who live, work, study or volunteer. That's within

00:28P01 to P06 area of Portsmouth and who are in need of generic counselling.

00:35So individuals can access the service for various reasons, such as anxiety, depression,

00:42suicidal thoughts, drug, alcohol dependency, self-harm, bullying. That can be workplace

00:50bullying as well, psychological impact of ill health, maybe COVID, developmental trauma from

00:59childhood. Our aim is to build on our clients' self-esteem, to rebuild loss of confidence,

01:09maybe family dynamics of collapse. We aim to support rebuilding that grief and other ones.

01:16The list could go on and on. Yeah. Just to clarify as well,

01:19is this a free service for the purpose? There is a small fee, okay, and it's a very

01:28low cost. It's really based on the individual's financial situation and that also includes

01:35people on benefit. So it will be tested against what they have coming in, but it is very,

01:40very minimal. Right, okay.

01:41I'm Paige. I'm one of the counsellors here at Counselling With You.

01:46Knowledge of mental health and therapy in general has gone up, but it's still a little

01:53bit of a stigma around it and therapy. Do you think that's still an issue in society in a way?

02:00I think nowadays the conversation still comes up. I think there's a perception that it's

02:09stigmatised, but it is so much more openly discussed now. People are more willing to say

02:15I'm experiencing stresses and I'm stressed because of those stresses. So whether it's

02:21things like finances, housing, all of the things that are very apparent and important as well,

02:27like most big cities, health conditions like chronic health, all of those things,

02:35they exist whether we want them to or not. And so I think now with that knowledge,

02:42people are more open to say, I need somewhere to discuss that. I need somewhere to talk about that

02:48and to unpack it. And obviously as a therapist, the opportunity to hold that space for them to

02:55do that is really, it's just a beautiful thing really.

02:59So I'm Tracy Stewart. I'm a peer mentor and I have been through the counselling service.

03:04You say you've kind of been through the you counselling yourself. I mean,

03:07how much of an impact has that had for you?

03:10Oh, huge. I wouldn't be where I am now without it. Yeah, from the moment I sent in the application

03:18form, I just felt the care and I mattered, which is something you don't usually get a number in

03:25the system. Now I just felt, yeah, it was tailored and so many different opportunities. I've had

03:32counselling on and off many years, many. And yeah, I'd never really progressed. So I was all

03:42going to the system, out the system. I used to live in Kent and then I moved down here. So I

03:47just was searching for somewhere and here was the second place I searched. And I actually felt more

03:53welcomed than I did from the other place. So yeah. Okay. Yeah. It had a real impact on your life.

04:00Oh yeah. So much so I'm training now to be a counsellor.

04:03Oh, amazing. Oh, fantastic.

04:06No, I just think the more people that know how amazing the service is, that it could be rolled

04:13out to more places, especially offering that sort of specialist trauma support, that it isn't just

04:22your 12 weeks of counselling. You're learning new ways of being, you're learning some tools

04:30to equip you. And with the self-esteem course, you're actually putting something in place that

04:33you haven't had, that's been stripped from you, or that you feel has, when really it's there,

04:40it's just finding it. So yeah, just so much gratitude. And yeah, as I said, I wouldn't be

04:48where I am now without it. I was in a very low place when I first started here.

04:53Because obviously there has been not issues of funding, but I believe

04:58looking for more funding in the future. Yes, absolutely. So as I said at the very

05:04beginning, this is our fifth year of delivering the counselling here. Unfortunately, the funding

05:11that has kept the service operating has now come to an end. Therefore, we have launched the Anchor

05:19of Hope campaign and we are professionally reaching out to local organisations, businesses

05:28and employers to explore possibilities of continuing our service, supporting the residents,

05:35employees and students locally based in Portsmouth. We do have funds to continue

05:43to deliver the service until December 2024. However, without the service, inevitably there

05:53will be an impact on individuals wanting to access their counselling with us,

05:58a further impact on NHS waiting lists for psychological therapies, and there will also

06:04be another major impact in the loss of us as a placement provider to counsellors on training.

06:12So our message through our Anchor of Hope campaign is if you are able to, or if you are

06:19interested in supporting counselling with you, mental health, and in a position to work with us

06:26to enable us to continue to deliver the service, please make contact.

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