Issue 28 November 2008

WE HAVE MOVED...

....to a larger premises in Kirkwall at 6 Bridge Street Wynd.

With our increasing workload, and workforce, we have had problems finding space for staff, storage, - and indeed for the services we offer, and those which are planning to offer. We have outgrown the Gunn’s Close office.

With several larger extra rooms at 6 Bridge Street Wynd we now have real scope to develop further our established Young Persons’ Service, Initial Assessment work, and the potential to offer regular group work. We now have a staff/Board/library room, which can also double as training/meeting room.

Volunteers, Staff, Board members and visitors can now meet and discuss things in a more comfy manner, without getting in each others’ way.

The atmosphere in the office now feels far less crowded and therefore less intrusive, so our staff and volunteers can now work away with fewer distractions. And clients, with the far superior sound proofing, can enjoy a better Counselling experience.

Funding Acknowledgement

OACAS is pleased to note recent funding awards from the following charities:

• BBC Children in Need: £40,846 over 2 years to fund a second, additional Youth Counsellor (part-time).

• Awards for All: £3,694 to assist in removal expenses and upgrading of new office.

• Voluntary Action Fund: £5,000 for training in the DICES Risk Assessment and Management System, to be supplied by APT Training & Consultancy,  Leicester.

• Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland: £7,864 over 2 years, to continue to support drop-in work and Counselling sessions with young people.

Training

New people joining our organisation often require bringing up to speed in the alcohol field and several volunteer Counsellors benefited from the AFS (Alcohol Focus Scotland) trainer, Sam Smith, visiting us in Orkney at the end of September to deliver training in this area.

He also delivered a refresher course to our established Counsellors, which included subjects like the continuing  importance of personal support, which we provide through our well structured Practise Supervision.

Rosie, our newest Supervisor is presently taking part in AFS training weekends in Tain.

Renate, our Young Persons’ Service Coordinator, has commenced a post- qualifying Diploma course in Counselling children & young people run by Quality Training UK in Edinburgh.

What Do We Offer?

“Rehabilitation” 

One-to-one Counselling and psychotherapy for those with, or developing, substance misuse problems.

“Prevention”

One-to-one Counselling and psychotherapy for those with lifestyle difficulties – such as anger, low self-esteem, depression, domestic and sexual abuse, loss, eating disorders, relationship difficulties, gambling issues, - which can lead on to substance misuse.

“Fast track”

Employing a specialist, experienced, and highly qualified Counsellor aiming to carry out initial assessments of all new referrals  within 5 working days of initial contact, we try to fit the new client to their Counsellor as smoothly as possible, or quickly refer the client to an alternative service, if appropriate.

Youth Counselling Service

We employ a dedicated Counsellor to work with young people going through personal crises which may, or may not be, linked with substance misuse.

Outer Isles Service

In conjunction with local GPs or Churches (whose premises we use) we offer on-island Counselling in Sanday, Stronsay and Westray using a mix of resident and visiting volunteer Counsellors.

How Professional are We?

All new unqualified volunteer Counsellors receive Alcohol Focus Scotland basic training in substance misuse and Counselling theory delivered over 6 weekends.

After about 2 years of supervised practice (at least 120 hours of client contact time) the Counsellor may put forward their portfolio for accreditation.

As part of the portfolio-building process all trainee counsellors (and indeed all qualified Counsellors) are expected to access additional training as available in Orkney and we endeavour to send workers to the mainland also for training, funding permitting.

Some Counsellors wish to advance their abilities by accessing Post Graduate Diploma courses in Counselling, and, funding permitting, we will assist.

We have been fortunate also in attracting several Post Graduate Diploma holding Counsellors as volunteers.

We are Orkney’s only COSCA (Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland) Recognised Counselling & Counselling Skills Organisation.

We are also a BACP (British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy) organisational member.

What is Our Capacity?

Last year we saw over 200 clients. Most will have seen their Counsellor on about six occasions, some more, some less.

To deliver this service we work with 5 paid employees, 14 volunteer counsellors, 6 volunteer practice supervisors, 6 volunteer Board members, 8 volunteer receptionists.

Our counsellors are trained in CBT, Brief Interventions, Person-centred work, etc.

Outcomes/outputs :  In the alcohol field, - and personal wellbeing field – always difficult to measure/assess, but our statistics suggest that about 50% of clients feel they are improved, 22% “no change”, with another 22% “unknown”, either because they did not attend at all, or broke off before being assessed. Only 1% were recorded as a bad outcome.

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