Grant-funding supports improved access to counselling
News from BACP

Following a successful pilot grants scheme in support of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy and after a competitive application process, six grants have been awarded to BACP organisational members in support of their work to remove barriers to therapy for people from racialised communities.

The grants scheme is delivered through designated funds allocated by the BACP Board in support of our Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy. All sessions of therapy delivered in the funded projects will be delivered by paid therapists.

Nottingham Counselling Service is working in partnership with award-winning social justice organisation Himmah, to deliver engagement and education sessions to include information about therapy and new learning opportunities for its team of counsellors.

Nottingham Counselling Service CEO Shoana Qureshi-Khan said: "This grant will allow us to extend our work into a known area of need in the city, running social activities and education sessions that debunk some of the common myths about mental health, explain some of the common difficulties facing people in our communities and show how the right treatment can help people to manage and improve their mental health."

By removing barriers to therapy and increasing client choice, the two-year partnership project will deliver 380 hours of counselling to clients from racialised community backgrounds.

Petals, a charity specialising in working with bereaved parents will work in partnership with pregnancy and baby-loss charity Tommy’s and Black maternal health organisation FiveXMore to provide counselling for bereaved Black parents.

Karen Burgess, Founder and CEO of Petals said: "A priority for us at Petals is to understand and overcome barriers to accessing our free specialist counselling service. We’re therefore delighted to receive this grant from BACP to fund Petals counselling for Black and Black Mixed-Heritage women and birthing people as they access our service through our partnership referral pathway with Tommy’s and Five X More. Through working together as organisations, we aim to foster trusting relationships with these women and birthing people that will facilitate their smooth transition into counselling, enabling them to benefit from processing their very personal experience of baby loss with a Petals specialist counsellor who’ll 'get it'."

Hackney Quest, building on a successful pilot programme, will extend its work with young people (16-25) in youth clubs, delivering 140 hours of therapeutic session time in a one-year project.

Bella Relph, Employability and Wellbeing Manager of Hackney Quest said: "There’s an urgent need for accessible, culturally relevant mental health support for young adults from racialised communities, especially young Black men, who are underrepresented in preventative services but overrepresented in crisis care. Our project will provide culturally sensitive mental health support directly in youth clubs, where young people from marginalised and racialised communities already feel safe, normalising mental health support."

Birmingham based Pattigift Therapy, will deliver and evaluate the impact of therapy delivered by counsellors who’ve completed its recently accredited Level 5 diploma in African-centred restorative praxis and application.

Through group therapy sessions delivered with up to 10 clients over sixteen weeks, the project seeks to evaluate the different model of therapy that underpins Pattigift’s training.

Waterloo Community Counselling to further deploy its multi-lingual counselling service to provide therapy for refugees and asylum seekers.

Waterloo Community Counselling CEO Miriam Philip said: "This grant from the BACP is a huge boost in challenging times. The climate’s extremely harsh for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, further eroding many people’s sense of safety and hope for the future. This project will help us remove the barriers to counselling by providing multilingual, culturally sensitive sessions. Clients frequently tell us that having sessions in their language with a trusted counsellor, often from a migrant or refugee background themselves, has been lifesaving."

MumsAid to increase its offer of perinatal support to work with mothers experiencing complex trauma.

MumsAid CEO Dr Miriam Donaghy said: "We're thrilled to receive this funding from BACP, which will enable us to deliver vital trauma counselling for women from Black and global majority communities. This support is a significant step in addressing systemic health inequalities and ensuring culturally sensitive mental health care is accessible to those who need it most."