CHeCC's end of year report for 2010/11 shows community counselling going from strength to strength:

• CHeCC delivered over 10,000 sessions of counselling in 2010/11
• This is a 50% growth rate over the past 4 years
• The balance of young clients from black and minority ethnic backgrounds now matches the proportions in Hertfordshire's population of teenagers
• The attendance rate of young people has improved for the second year running
• The numbers of young males accessing counselling has continued to grow for the third year
• CHeCC met the targets of its contract to deliver Improving Access for Psychological Therapies
• CHeCC's work with young people facing drug and alcohol issues continues to have a high level of impact

CHeCC undertook research with 814 young Hertfordshire residents from across the county, exploring their attitudes to counselling, the level of need for counselling and the factors that influence their accessing counselling in different settings.  The report ('Counselling for Young People in Hertfordshire - The Need and The Barriers') concluded that:

 

1. The volume of counselling available to young people needs to be doubled to meet their needs.   
2. To enable access to support without parents or teachers knowing, young people desire and need a range of counselling opportunities outside, as well as inside school. 
3.  To avoid confusion, the term ‘counselling’ must only be used to describe work undertaken by fully qualified counsellors complying with British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists’ standards.
4. Counselling, in all its various forms, needs to be better promoted

   Contact us for a full copy or follow this link Counselling for young people in Herts - The Need and the Barriers (Summary Brochure) to view a summary on this site.

Following on from a successful pilot in Bishop's Stortford, CHeCC has won £10,000 from East Herts District Council's Performance Reward Grant to double the level of counselling delivered in Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth.  A further £2,000 has been secured from East Herts District Council's Health Inequalities fund to run a pilot in Buntingford.  This is a fantastic opportunity to embed counselling for young people in the district and lay the foundations for a service being available for years to come.

East Herts District Children's Trust Partnership has funded CHeCC to pilot a counselling service in Bishops Stortford.  From January, Young Concern Trust will provide 3 sessions a week at Youth Connexions' Northgate Centre.  For more information contact Young Concern Trust.