This Trustees' Week, we're shining a light on some of the people who give their time, energy and expertise to help keep Guernsey Counselling Service (GCS) running. First up is our Chairman, Martin.
Martin brings a huge amount of experience to GCS, having qualified as a solicitor in 1974 and spent much of his career specialising in corporate, commercial and project work before joining Guernsey's Law Officers in 2004. Martin retired in 2017, but this didn’t mean putting his feet up. He sits as a Deputy Judge in the Guernsey Magistrates Court and is a qualified mediator through the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Despite his impressive legal background, there's one role Martin is quite happy to leave to the experts: counselling!
A new appreciation for counselling
Having completed Level 2 training accredited by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body, Martin says he wouldn't make a very good counsellor. After a career in law, he says he is too used to advising or telling people what they should do.
The experience did, however, give him a real appreciation for the skill involved in counselling.
‘I am amazed at how good counsellors are, sitting alongside the client to help them address those concerns and anxieties that they have, which can often be deep seated, so as to enable them to deal with those issues.
It is easy to assume that counsellors just sit there and tell people what they should do to get their lives in order’
As Martin discovered, counselling is very different from simply offering advice. Becoming a qualified counsellor takes years of training, significant personal commitment and considerable financial investment. It's a highly skilled profession, helping people explore their experiences, better understand themselves and find their own way forward.
Martin also found that the training encouraged him to reflect on his own life and the experiences that have shaped him.
‘One of the things that stood out for me in the basic training I did was to become self-aware of things that have happened in my own life in the past that has shaped the way I react and behave. I learned that these events can trigger my responses. This included the death in a car accident of my best friend having just come out of university.’
It's a powerful reminder that our experiences can influence us in ways we don't always recognise, and that understanding ourselves can be an important part of moving forward.
So, what does a GCS Chairman actually do?
Martin describes chairing the Board as being ‘a bit like herding cats’!
Joking aside, his role is an important one. Alongside his fellow trustees, he helps guide the charity's strategy and ensure GCS can continue providing its counselling services to the Guernsey community.
A significant part of that work involves fundraising.
Like many smaller charities in Guernsey, GCS faces the challenge of securing funding in an increasingly competitive environment. Longer-term funding is particularly valuable, allowing the charity to plan ahead and ensure its services continue to meet the community's needs.
And for GCS, there's an additional challenge. Counselling is deeply personal, and protecting clients' privacy and confidentiality is fundamental to everything we do. That means we can't always share the individual stories that might help demonstrate the difference our work makes.
One thing we are committed to, however, is ensuring that nobody is turned away simply because they cannot afford counselling. With no government funding, we rely on fundraising and the generosity of our supporters to help make that possible.
Why volunteer?
For Martin, the rewards of being a trustee go well beyond board meetings, budgets and fundraising.
‘since you feel that you are making a difference – even if you don’t always see it. It makes it worthwhile when we receive comments from clients who feel that they have been really helped by one of our amazing team of counsellors.’
And that's really what it's all about. Behind the scenes, our trustees help make it possible for our counsellors to be there when people need them.
Life beyond the boardroom
When he's not busy keeping the trustees in line, Martin enjoys heading for the mountains to indulge his love of mountaineering.
He's also learning to play the guitar, with ambitions of one day embarking on a world tour. He admits that's extremely unlikely, but we wouldn't rule it out just yet!
A big thank you to Martin for the time, experience, humour and commitment he brings to GCS. And to all our trustees, whose work behind the scenes makes such a difference to our charity.
