Annual Report
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ANNUAL REPORT 2018 – 2019 Windsor and Maidenhead Youth and Community Counselling Service Windsor Alma Road SL4 3HD – Maidenhead Marlow Road SL6 7YR Slough Church Street Tel: 01753 842444 01628 636661 An initiative of Churches Together in Windsor Supported by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Nominated for The Queen’s Award for Volunteering Registered Charity No. 1177138 BACP Accredited Service 1 I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become. Jung In memory of George 25/08/06 – 07/09/18 He understood the meaning of empathy. How can I provide a relationship, which this person may use for their own personal growth? Carl Rogers 2 Chair’s Report This has been a year of much development. We spent considerable time on our commissioning service level agreement with RBWM. The finalisation of the process was put on hold when Shula became unwell. RBWM as her employer stepped back to give her health first priority and I know that Shula was extremely grateful and appreciative of their response. The work will resume later this year. The appointment of the management team has greatly contributed to development. Alison Batey has a very clear programme for expanding the work in schools and securing income to support the work. She made a very detailed presentation to the trustees on the work she is doing. Damon has been preparing for our data handling with our own computer support rather than being a part of RBWM. He has investigated several possibilities and the best way forward is becoming clear. He has been very thorough in his reporting to the trustees, keeping us informed at all stages and on all matters in his remit. He has also spent a good proportion of his time during the year on triaging the waiting list. The outcome of that work has provided useful conclusions for future planning. Damon has also taken on the responsibility for the Advocacy work during the time that Shula has been unwell. Emily secured our excellent rebranding and has worked on the website to good effect. She has worked on bids for grants to fund our work and persuaded contacts to offer us good support for reasonable costs. We have to thank all three managers for the way in which they have carried the increased workload during Shula’s absence. We are on the point of completing our lease on the premises in Maidenhead and discussions are underway about Windsor. Eileen Goford and I have signed the lease ready for completion. Looking to the future there are already opportunities for increasing the work we do in Slough particularly work in schools and we are about to begin offering a training course under the leadership of Julie Murrell. The work of the volunteer counsellors and those who do voluntary shifts as receptionists etc. still provide the means to our success. They are the way we reach so many young adults and children who are in need of support. They are generous in their time and responsive to need in any emergency, offering a high standard of work with impeccable commitment to the clients. 3 I continue to be impressed by the way in which people work so hard for the Charity. I have been very pleased, on three separate occasions, to hear the work of Number 22 praised by people holding senior positions in the field of medicine and education. On each occasion, the person speaking had no knowledge of my interest which makes it doubly valuable. Thank you all for your contribution to the high standards and the work delivered with such compassionate professionalism. I look forward to the next year with enthusiasm and wish to thank my fellow trustees for their support and advice. Finally, I must express my admiration and thanks to Shula for all her work, for the way she has dealt with her illness, and with all of you, wish her complete recovery and a restorative year ahead. Sally Somerville Chair of Trustees 4 Statement of Purpose The objects of Windsor and Maidenhead Counselling Service as stated in the constitution are: … the advancement of education, the furtherance of health and the relief of poverty, distress and sickness of young people, families and carers, in the communities of Windsor & Maidenhead and the surrounding areas, on at least two sites, by maintaining and developing a youth & community counselling service for the giving of individual or group counselling and support. Windsor and Maidenhead Counselling Service provides a free confidential counselling service, through their three sites, Number 22 in Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough. Counselling enables people to make sense of their thoughts and feelings, in the hope that they can make decisions about what they want to do to bring about change in their lives. It also provides a means of support and a space where they can feel valued and heard. Counsellors at Number 22 focus on the person and how they feel about their lives, the counselling process is client led. Counsellors at Number 22 Counselling go through a careful selection process, in order that they are competent to work with the issues that clients will bring. All counsellors are trained to at least certificate level. They are required to keep their skills up to date by attending several training courses, which are provided by the agency. All counsellors are enhanced police checked, and we are keeping appraised of any new legislation regarding vetting and barring. 5 BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions We are organisational accredited members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the way we work subscribes to their ethical framework for the counselling professions, good practice. All the counsellors that deliver at any of our sites are bound by the principles, values and personal moral qualities as laid down in the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. The fundamental values of counselling include a commitment to: ❖ Respecting human rights and dignity ❖ Alleviating symptoms of personal distress and suffering ❖ Enhancing people’s wellbeing and capabilities ❖ Improving the quality of relationships between people ❖ Increasing personal resilience and effectiveness ❖ Facilitating a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned within their personal and cultural context ❖ Appreciating the variety of human experience and culture ❖ Protecting the safety of clients ❖ Ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships ❖ Enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application ❖ Striving for the fair and adequate provision of counselling and psychotherapy services Complaints Procedure We aim to offer a service, which is safe for each client. Windsor and Maidenhead Counselling Service follows guidelines developed by the Royal Borough and also follow the ethical framework for good practice as a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. If a client is unhappy with any aspect of the service, they may contact the agency director/management team, to discuss particular concerns. If following this discussion, they want the complaint to go further they can contact Windsor and Maidenhead Counselling Service’s management committee. Alternatively, if the client chooses they can contact the BACP directly and inform them of their complaint. 6 Equal Opportunities Statement At Windsor and Maidenhead Counselling Service, we recognise that we are based in a borough, which is a diverse place with a vibrant cultural mix. There are many benefits to this and we hope to reflect this in our organisation. We believe that by valuing diversity and ensuring equality, everyone using our service will feel welcomed and supported. We recognise that as an organisation we have a responsibility to demonstrate our commitment to anti discriminatory practice, playing an important part in improving life opportunities for people who are disadvantaged, vulnerable or have diverse characteristics. We believe that all our counsellors have a responsibility to promote this policy by, treating each other and clients with dignity and respect and challenging discrimination in an appropriate manner. We will ensure that all our facilities are fully accessible and will regularly monitor to ensure this continues. We will strive to ensure that clients and counsellors are not prevented from engaging with the service due to any disability. When recruiting counsellors, we will acknowledge conditions, which may disadvantage them and we will work to remove this disadvantage. We will endeavour to include young people on our committee, with the intention of giving a voice to the vulnerable that have used our service. When recruiting and placing counsellors on rota and in supervision we will take into account their need for flexibility around caring responsibilities, we will endeavour to ensure our way of working is family friendly. We will also take into account such issues when placing clients with counsellors. Number 22 recognises that everyone has a contribution to make to our agency and has a right to respectful treatment. 7 Co-ordinator’s Report Well what a year it has been, many of you will understand what I mean when I say it is a good thing that we don’t always know the challenges ahead. Though many of those challenges were personal ones, they did impact in many ways on the service and so I am pleased to write that despite the challenges I feel that as a service we were triumphant and we have definitely grown, developed and I hope learned many things this year. Looking over what I wrote last year, I am pleased at how the things I mentioned have been bedded in and that is very much down to the brilliant team that is now in place. For some time when we have been reflecting on the challenges to the service or areas of weakness, it has been its dependence on one person, namely me.