World Mental Health Day 2020 - An Introduction to SHP’s Counselling and Psychotherapy Services

World Mental Health Day this year falls at a time when the Coronavirus has severely disrupted Counselling and Psychotherapy Services whilst the need for Therapy Services has increased greatly. SHP’s own Therapy provision has expanded this year to include the East London Counselling Service (formerly ELMS), which is based in Leyton, Waltham Forest. This Service is an established community Counselling Service; initially providing counselling to residents of Waltham Forest, the Service will now be offering 8 sessions of free counselling to people living in the boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Redbridge as well. This Service will be opening this month having moved to offering online sessions. We have 17 Volunteer Counsellors, many of whom have been with the Service for some time. 

SHP’s existing in-house Psychotherapy Service, which has been offering weekly art, movement & talking psychotherapy for 2 years to residents of accommodation projects & people receiving support from Floating Support, responded swiftly to lockdown by moving to remote working and offering phone sessions to existing & new clients. These sessions continue to be vital to clients as other support groups remain closed due to Covid. The Service continues to offer open ended therapy to clients who are often excluded from mainstream Therapy Services, due to their being regarded as too complex or ‘hard to engage’. We continue to understand the importance of developing a therapeutic relationship with people, who have all too often had experiences of relationships being frightening & inconsistent. 

Mental Health has become an increasingly publicised concern within government & the media. At the same time as social & economic developments have increased inequalities of wealth & income, precarious & low paid work has led to an increase in household debt, housing has become increasingly insecure & homelessness has increased; experiences which cause distress & place an enormous pressure on people’s mental wellbeing. 

SHP’s Counselling & Psychotherapy Services have never been more important to the different communities we work with.

For more info and/or referral to our Counselling & Psychotherapy Services head to our webpage.

Blog by Nicola Saunders | Therapy Services Manager

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