Counselling Young People

Last year, Trustees agreed to fund North Kent Mind (NKM) £20,000  to provide mental health awareness in four schools that serve ME1 and ME2.  This was the fourth year of doing this.  Under normal circumstances, NKM would deliver their service by going out to schools but during 2020, the year of Covid 19, they have had to adapt. The coronavirus pandemic has put an increasing strain on many young people who have already been struggling with their mental health. NKM has seen a marked increase in levels of anxiety, depression, traumatic experiences and self-harm. Further, there have been increases in suicide attempts across local boroughs. Now, as much as ever, mental health support work is imperative to ensure that young people feel heard, supported and able to build coping mechanisms in this difficult time.  NKM’s schools coaches are deemed essential workers and have been able to be on-site in all but one of their schools since September. NKM have been able to continue their usual service providing 1-1 support to young people either i) at risk of developing mental health issues or ii) displaying increased need for mental health support. Additionally, they have been providing staff and parents with resources to continue support at home and signposting to local services.

In addition to the work of NKM, Breathing Space has a budget of up to £10,000 per year deliver one to one counselling for young people within our catchment.  They too have had to adapt, employing different approaches for different age groups and maintaining distance throughout.