We are still so happy with how our Birthday Event went on the 3rd March 2018 we thought we’d share the details of the night with you. We also want to extend a massive thank you to all who gave raffle prizes, attended on the night and kindly donated to our projects – it is already making a difference to peoples lives.
More than 75 people made, a community interest company’s first birthday celebrations extra memorable by raising more than nearly £1,200 for its life-changing work.
Impressed guests, who attended the NWCH (Naomi Watkins Counselling Hub) party at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Lincoln, dug deep in support of a bumper raffle, then topped it off with further donations – raising £1,190 to help the Community Interest Company to counsel more people in distress.
Diners warmly applauded the Hub’s work and its recent expansion, at the end of an outstanding year during which co-founders Naomi Watkins and Alex Parkin had already received two lots of grant aid and been forced to expand into a second building to meet the sheer demand for their counselling and training services.
During the special evening, which was attended by Lincoln Mayor Councillor Chris Burke, the city’s Mayoress Coun Sue Burke and Sheriff Jo Rimmer, Naomi and Alex showed a video and explained how the Hub’s team is working with both children to adults to change lives.
Guests listened intently as a mum-of-three gave a personal testimony of how the Hub had helped her children through a difficult period after she was diagnosed with cancer. Other testimonies were also read out.
Naomi said: “It was a really wonderful evening and we were blown away with the amount of money raised by the generously-supported raffle and donations.
“This will be ploughed back into our projects, because we are determined to improve as many lives as possible. These funds will be targeted on our Acorn Project, to help young people between the ages of four and 18 years old, who have suffered sexual abuse or rape.
“It will also assist our work with Scunthorpe-basedTeam Verrico, for whom we provide counselling to families facing cancer and our work with Sophie’s Journey, where we offer group therapy to parents who have lost children to cancer.”
In one year we, NWCH have grown to boast a 25-strong team, which includes 18 counsellors, and we are based out of two adjacent units on the Allenby Business Village, off Monks Road, in Lincoln.
We recently appointed team member and counsellor Charlie Blackwell as the Hub’s Business Development Manager. In addition to continuing to offer one-to-one support to clients, he will be helping to develop the training arm of the company.
Within the first six months of trading, Naomi and Alex celebrated a £25,000 grant from The Bromhead Medical Charity, which NWCH is using to provide free counselling to young people and children, whose lives have been blighted by sexual abuse or rape.
Local sexual abuse services have been encouraged to signpost children and young people in need to the service, where they are offered a mixture of pet therapy, sand tray therapy, play and counselling to help them to process their emotions and regain their confidence.
News of a £60,000 “super boost” came in February, which allowed NWCH to double the size of the Lincoln Hub, spelling even better news for clients and fellow professionals.
That funding, which was awarded by The Key Fund, unlocked Naomi and Alex’s dream of creating more counselling rooms, which they have now done, and also lease a second building for use as a dedicated training centre.
The training centre will generate further income to help ensure the future sustainability of NWCH.
RECENT POSTS
I don’t think I could recommend NWCH enough! My counsellor is great, I feel understood and hopeful and never judged. Thank you!
Young person Accessing NWCH Counselling Service
My son is opening up to Wayne about all aspects of losing his Dad - happy memories and the painful truth that he won’t be coming back. Wayne has taught him to acknowledge the pain but also remember the many happy times. The counselling he has had with Wayne has been invaluable.
Mum of her young son Accessing NWCH Counselling Service
Coming in for couples counselling, we were both nervous about how the session would work having not done anything like this before.
He listened to each of us and made it feel very light-hearted and easy. We were able to share our feelings and thoughts and Ian gently guided us to explain our views to help us see each other’s views and gave us things to think about for next week.
Couple Accessing NWCH Counselling Service
Personally, I was a very sceptical individual and initially attended as a good Will gesture to my family who had encouraged me to do so……. that being said I found myself to be able to talk to (let’s be honest, a stranger) about my life and its difficulties in an open and comfortable fashion……. don’t get me wrong I’m no soft touch! But I found it genuinely comforting to be able to do so! …. it makes me ask and look for answers from myself ….. rather than someone with a title telling me what’s wrong……,
Adult Accessing NWCH Counselling Service
The match of counsellor has meant my husband looks forward to his sessions & already is feeling happier & we as a family are seeing a difference. It is detail like this that makes asking for help via the NW Counselling Hub stand out – plus the reassurance all counsellors are qualified.
We cannot recommend the NW Counselling Hub enough and thank them for all they are doing for our family.
Adult Accessing NWCH Counselling Service
“We want to support our team when ‘life happens’. We asked NWCH to be our ‘go to’ support service for counselling and emotional support to help members of our team, if they need it, get them through some difficult personal issues such as bereavement and anxiety. The team at the hub are incredibly supportive and have provided a lifeline to our team”
Lincoln Employer referring employees to NWCH Counselling Service.
“NWCH have been providing counselling services to our employees for a few years now and I can honestly say that they have made a significant difference to many of their lives.
We are a company that believes in investing in our staff, and it is great to see when that investment is so profound and has such a positive impact, especially when it comes to people’s wellbeing.
Thank you NWCH, for enabling us to offer our teams such fantastic support and help to feel better when they face challenging times.”
HR Manager at Micronclean Ltd
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