Happy New Year to you all – An update from NowCounselling

Firstly, I wish you all the best and hope you are going well so far in 2020!

I am delighted to confirm that I will once again be leading weekly Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Groups for men in North East Edinburgh starting on Friday 31^st January based at the Ripple Project. Referrals come from Community Link Workers who are based in local GP surgeries, as part of the successful Social Prescribing initiative driven by the Scottish Government, NHS, local surgeries and third sector organisations. Participants will learn about stress and the impact it has on all of us, and ways to manage this positively so that anxiety, depression and other health problems can be improved.

I am also delighted to say that I will once again be delivering the training programme for the new intake of Alcohol Counsellors who will be joining the 50 year old institution - Edinburgh and Lothians Council on Alcohol - from February onwards.

Meanwhile, I am leading three groups of students through the 2^nd level of the internationally recognised qualification in Choice Theory (trauma informed relationship based psychological framework), Reality Therapy (the application to a therapeutic setting) and Lead Management (the application to an education, workplace or personal environment). The students are based in Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian and Liverpool, so if you are in the those areas and are interested and wish to connect then please let me know. Following two successful courses last year, I am also in the process of connecting with some people who have made enquiries about taking part in the first level – a Basic Intensive Workshop – later this year. If you are interested in finding out more about this opportunity then please get in touch.

I continue to deliver regular one to one counselling sessions and one to one and group clinical supervision for counsellors, as well as personal coaching for people working as workplace leaders and in education environments. If you are interested in finding out more or wish to book an appointment then please get in touch.

I am very much enjoying working (for three days per week) as the Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer for the national agency for Youth Work - YouthLink Scotland, in partnership with SeeMe Scotland, who are the national programme tackling stigma and discrimination. Having made the progress that I had hoped to make so far in connecting with young people, Youth Workers, partners and other stakeholders across the Youth Work Sector nationally - to assess and evaluate needs and to find any gaps in provision in terms of training and support – I am now in the process of working together with colleagues to plan the next steps for the YouthLink Scotland Mental Health and Wellbeing training resource. I look forward to some exciting months ahead as we continue to take the conversation forwards, to a future where we are all comfortable and able to talk and to offer and accept the help that we all need.

Finally, the team volunteers  at Edinburgh Helping Hands continue to work together to provide the things that are needed in our communities across the city. Recently, in partnership with some local organisations, we collected and delivered 40 tonnes of food to people who needed it and collected and delivered thousands of toys and gifts to children and young people for Christmas. Some of the other work done in 2019 included structured football and boxing fitness sessions for children and young people including health and wellbeing support in the form of information, food and water. Donations of bicycles and cycling classes for children were also delivered and will continue, along with the other initiatives and more in 2020 to contribute to a healthier future for the people of Edinburgh. Further details of the impact of the work of the team can be found in this article https://solidaritynotcharity.com/latest/

20 members of this fantastic team of people have also created the Edinburgh Helping Hands Run Club and will be taking part in the 2020 Edinburgh Marathon festival in May. For more details of how to support: https://solidaritynotcharity.com/run-club/

Best wishes for now,

Sean