Latest news…
AGM
We are holding our AGM on Tuesday 12th October at 18.45 in the Meeting Room at Les Cotils to which there is an open invitation. We would love to tell you our plans for the future, so please come and join us, and stay for a meal afterwards. The meal has to be pre-ordered, so please ask for the menu.
Change
A lot has happened in the past year. The major thing has been our rebranding to become Guernsey Counselling Service, about which we thought long and hard. The Directors felt that it would open up more opportunities for the Service to grow and develop. We feel that we desperately need our own premises, to have a proper base and Centre from which to work and train. This would be helpful as a training organisation for our students and for our counsellors to have a sense of belonging.
Having bigger dreams and plans comes at a cost. We need to find funds for increased expenses of rent, supervision, training grants and valuing our counsellors.
Counselling
We have had 85 referrals up to the middle of September this year. Once again, thanks go to our counsellors; Amanda, Christine, Mandy, Nigel, Rebecca and Sarah, and our supervisors; Sarah and Brian, who have continued to give their time and skills. Brian has decided to retire from being a supervisor and we are grateful for his dedication for the many years. More counsellors are having external supervision for various reasons, explaining the further reduction in in-house supervision hours and cost to the service. Helen, Sue and Tracey have been taking a break due to other commitments, and hope to take a client in the future.
Training courses: the Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies started in September 2020 with 8 students and all completed the course at the end of July.
The Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling completed in July this year with 8 students. The second year was via Zoom and three Barnabas trainers were able to come over from the UK for the final weekend, once travel restrictions allowed. We congratulate and welcome the newly qualified counsellors, who we were able to support with a grant towards their training costs and who are continuing to volunteer with us. They are Ashley, Becky, Grace, Kate, Lucy, Susanna and Teresa. A couple of them still have a little outstanding work to finish in the next couple of months. We are pleased to have Hayley working with us, having gained her Diploma qualification in the UK.
Our on-island trainer, Christine, plans to run two Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills courses over the next 18 months. One will start in November and the other in February 2022. We had many people on the waiting list for training, so it has been easy to fill the 12 places on each course. The interest in counselling training has always been keen and seems to have increased since the difficulties of Covid. A trainee tutor will help with each course. Christine’s plan is to deliver a Level 3 course after the Level 2 courses.
Barnabas are committed to running another Level 4 Diploma course, hopefully starting in January 2022 until December 2023. They are planning it and a suitable venue is still needed. It will be a blended mix of face to face and remote training.
However, at present, there are no plans to deliver another Level 4 after that, of which the new students have been made aware. We hope that new opportunities can be found in the future, so that qualification as a counsellor can still be completed on the island.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD): We plan to run the 2 day workshop on the Enneagram in October, postponed from last year. The dates are 29th and 30th October at La Villette. There are still a few places. Further information.
Fundraising: Friends of Guernsey Counselling Service: If you would like to begin or continue helping Guernsey Counselling Service, by providing financial support, please complete the attached form here. Any donation, however small, will always be greatly appreciated.
