History

Sunderland Counselling Services began in 1983

Part of an organisation known as Action in Retirement, a charity based in Bishopwearmouth Church (now the Minster). Action in Retirement offered a number of services for people over fifty, including an information desk and training courses such as 'Caring for Carers', ‘Pre-Retirement’ and ‘Learning To Sign’. In addition to a small restaurant run by volunteers, a number of activities, such as photography, history, swimming and keep fit, were also available. Often people who were upset or bereaved would come into the church hoping to speak with the vicar. As their numbers increased, the vicar, the Reverend Eric Shegog, suggested that the provision of a counselling service would be useful. This idea was taken up and a number of people from Social Services, the church, the Health Authority, industry and various voluntary organisations, formed a steering group with the purpose of setting up a counselling service. Eventually, following the establishment of a management committee, the counselling service became operational.

Charitable Status

The Counselling Service soon outgrew the space available at the Church. Moving to larger accommodation in Mary Street, Sunderland, the service was afforded charitable status as a stand-alone service. Further moves were to follow both physically and on an organisational level. Courtesy of the local Health Authority and with an ever expanding team of paid and unpaid workers, in 1991 the Service moved into No. 2 Bede Bungalows, Old Havelock Hospital, Sunderland, and later into the administration block on the same site. Specialising in grief and loss counselling, the service was now acknowledged locally and nationally. In 1997 the service was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and in 1998 relocated to the , Hylton Road, Sunderland.

Princess of Wales Centre

Due to the marked increase in referrals experienced by the service the need to seek out and acquire more spacious and indeed more appropriate accommodation was recognised. Therefore the service relocated in April 2005 to Angel House in Borough Road, where it currently remains. Funding over the years has come from sources such as Social Services, Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, City Hospitals NHS Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, B.B.C. Children In Need and the City of Sunderland Children’s Fund. In addition, funding has been received from various trusts and funding bodies such as the Baring Foundation, Lloyds TSB, the Hadrian Trust, the Rothley Trust, Tyne & Wear Foundation, Church Urban Fund, Wearmouth Deanery Trust, Awards For All and the Community Foundation. Service users occasionally make donations and a number of local businesses have also helped the organisation with smaller donations or gifts. The service has been consistently supported by patrons Denise Robertson, Lord David Puttnam and Terry Waite CBE.

Core Counselling Service

Currently the service operates a core counselling service, largely provided by a team of volunteer counsellors and supervised by a team of fully qualified supervisors, offering counselling to people in the City of Sunderland who are suffering from emotional or mental distress. This distress may be as a result of bereavement, loss, or other life changing events, such as trauma or family breakdown. We also work with individuals suffering from depression, anxiety, stress and other conditions. In addition to the core service Sunderland Counselling Services has operated a number of discrete projects as follows:

Palliative Care Counselling

Lead agent for the provision of a signposting service and complementary therapy service ‘Offering Options’ established through the New Opportunities Fund for adults living with cancer and their carers, Sunderland Counselling Services provided information and counselling support to this client group from October 2001 until May 2004. A similar project originally funded by NOF (now BLF), ‘Caring Together – Making A Difference’ offering counselling and complementary therapies at home for those living with life limiting illnesses (and their carers), continued the work into 2006, the emphasis being placed on domiciliary delivery. The counselling element of this service was successfully mainstreamed in June 2006. In addition to this, again originally funded by NOF (now BLF), a parallel service was afforded to children with life limiting/life threatening illnesses and their families living in the City of Sunderland and the South Tyneside area. Sadly this service ended in November 2007 due to a cessation of funding.

Advocacy

Sunderland Advocacy For Empowerment (SAFE) was established in July 2003 to provide advocacy for vulnerable adults with learning disabilities who have been and / or are suffering from abuse.

Children and Young People's Service

This service came into being in 1990 to provide individual and group counselling and access to peer group support for children and young people facing bereavement, and loss in the wider sense, family breakdown and bullying. In November 2003 the Children and Young People’s Service relocated to the Pennywell Youth Project at St Thomas’. Then again in June 2006 the service moved into premises owned by Community CAMHS at Carley Hill and is now very successfully co-located with this service.

Careline

Since 1998, the City of Sunderland Care Line has been managed by the Service, with a team of committed individuals who meet on a monthly basis, and a dedicated team leader who ensures that training crucial to the role of the team is kept up to date. Kept in a state of readiness in the eventuality of a major incident or disaster, one of 5 teams in the region, the service forms a valuable strand of the City's Emergency Planning Unit.

Summary

As a mental health service provider working in partnership with both service providers and service users throughout the City of Sunderland, Sunderland Counselling Services also has a campaigning role, which seeks to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental distress. We at Sunderland Counselling Services work with the belief that there is nothing shameful about having mental distress. The fundamental principal of our organisation is that we are all human beings: everyone has differing levels of both physical and mental health, and at some time or other, many of us will have difficult life experiences and these experiences will have a negative effect upon our mental health. The level of this effect however, will be dependent upon how well we are able to cope. Some will cope better than others. It is therefore the aim of Sunderland Counselling Services to continue to provide accurately gauged, supportive and effectively attuned services for those who are suffering from emotional and mental distress within the City of Sunderland.