Counselling for young people in crisis

The Pitch

Problem statement

Tor Support is a small, registered charity based in Okehampton, Devon. We provide free, confidential counselling for children and young people in Okehampton and the surrounding area. We have been delivering this service to our community for 13 years. Last year we supported 205 young people. Along with growth in need across the board we also saw a marked increase in the number of primary age children coming to us for help. Our clients come to us with problems ranging from anxiety and depression through to gender dysphoria, self harm and suicidal ideation. And a number are also suffering abuse or neglect.

Solution

Early counselling intervention can transform the life chances of young people. 90% of children who receive early support report an improvement in their mental health that they attribute to counselling. National research indicates that 70% of long term mental health issues emerge before the age of 25. Our team of 15 counsellors, including 7 volunteers provide vital free, local, accessible and confidential counselling to local young people (aged from 5 - 25) who are in crisis. This funding would cover the full recoverable cost of delivering 35 counselling sessions.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

Based alongside the secondary school In Okehampton, we have strong links with all local schools, health centres and youth services. Young people self-refer to us or are referred through school, their GP, social care or their parents. We are a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, have robust policies and procedures and closely supervise, evaluate and review our service. Dr Emma Chapman, a senior Okehampton GP recently wrote: "We see so many people at the Medical Centre struggling with mental health problems - an increasing proportion of these are under 25 years old.  We are so lucky to have Tor Support locally."

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

35 people

Who will benefit

Expected impact

Our counselling helps young people in crisis get their lives back on track, return to school, rebuild their relationships. This has a positive impact not just on the individual concerned, but on their family, friends and on the wider community. We measure outcomes in two ways: we use the Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation (CORE) evaluation tool (a validated method of assessing clinical outcomes in psychological therapies) and we also give each client an individual cfeedback form to allow us to gather a personal response from each young person. We will continue to use these processes through the period, allowing us to rigorously assess the impact counselling is having on the lives of the young people we support.

Track record

In the year to the end March 2023, we delivered well over 1500 counselling sessions to young people in crisis. This was a significant increase on the previous year. The service we deliver has grown year on year since we began but since the Covid pandemic we have seen a marked growth in demand, including a particular increase in need from primary age children. This has led to us bring in more counsellors in with the specialist training to help younger children who often cannot vocalise their distress. Over the last year our our outcome CORE evaluation tool indicated that over 90% of our clients have improved mental health post-counselling. Separately, our client feedback form showed that 95% of our clients felt more able to understand their situation and feelings after counselling. 87% felt more positive, with strategies that will help them to cope. 76% felt their concentration on tasks, in and out of school, had improved.

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