Community Counselling: we provided low cost counselling to people from the Ards and North Down area. Costs ranged from £5 per session for those who were unemployed and £10 for those who were employed. We were able to assess clients within one week of them contacting us, meaning the service was provided in a timely manner, before issues escalated. Often clients reported having to wait up to 6 months for counselling in other organisations. Clients also could attend counselling for as long as they and the therapist found it helpful. Attendance rates were around 91% showing good level of engagement in the service. Clients were assessed using a CORE 10 form, all showed an improvement in mood over the course of their therapy. Community counselling was provided by trainees who we mentored. We also used the money from the sessions to pay for our trainees to have regular supervision of a very high standard to ensure they practiced at a high level. Huddle Project: we received funding from National Lottery Community Fund to run group therapy workshops for children with autism. These used music, drama and art therapy techniques along with mindfulness. The aim was to help improve resilience, reduce anxiety and encourage self acceptance. This was a fully funded project, which benefitted not only the children attending but also their families, siblings, teachers and wider community. Feedback forms were completed by parents who reported that children slept better, engaged in a more appropriate way with family members, were more relaxed and also enjoyed the Huddles. During covid restrictions we delivered online huddles to children and families with approx 220 young people engaged per week. We also created and delivered art and craft packs across the province too enable the young people to do the activities at home. We also did kayaking, outdoor pursuits, bedtime stories, yoga and singing. Volunteers: we used volunteers in many of our projects. Including past clients and students. We provided them with a rich learning environment which was supported and managed carefully. This helped them make positive steps in their own lives and increased their employability. Contracts: We have contracts with 3 other charitable organisations where we go in an deliver huddles or counselling sessions from their premises. Any profit gained from these contracts goes towards paying overheads and subsidising the cost of counselling for people who cannot otherwise afford it. These services all continued online throughout covid.

Parents and Families: we do regular survey monkey questionnaires via our social media, mailing lists and schools. We hold focus groups and interview local community organisations periodically throughout the year to assess needs and challenges. We also run online surveys across the wider community with incentives in the form of small prizes to help us gain an insight into the needs of a wider cross section of our community. Local community and voluntary organisations: we have met with and corresponded with many local c&v organisations. We shared our services to assist with signposting vulnerable people in the area to ensure people got the right service at the right time, taking a holistic approach to wellbeing. Counsellors – stated that they found it difficult to get placements to assist with their training, found it very difficult to get paid work upon completion of their training and found it difficult to afford good quality supervision during their placement. We therefore paid 50% of their supervision costs, a mentoring program and pledged to give them paid work post qualification, provided their standard of work was acceptable. We have approx 16 trainee Counsellors on an apprentice scheme at present.

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration