In 2017 NWCH was founded to help support the local community with their mental health and wellbeing. We are, on occasion, mistaken for a charity, however, we are in fact a Community Interest Company (CIC).
A CIC, as the name suggests is a social enterprise that exists to benefit the community rather than shareholders. A CIC is still a limited company, but its objectives are to offer services or to benefit the community in a certain way.
To become a CIC, we were required to submit a community interest statement, to outline what we intended to do, with particular reference to how our services will benefit the community. Once set up, we then had the responsibility to undertake activities to fulfil our purpose in accordance with the statement. This information is in the public domain, and should anyone wish to find the statement they can do so on Companies House.
The directors at NWCH identified a huge gap in the counselling support that is provided to young people in particular. We wanted to provide a service that, unlike many others within the area, offers a safe, secure and consistent environment for young people to access counselling and begin to rebuild their lives.
Our main goal is to provide a central hub to support the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people, adults, families and couples within Lincolnshire – including;
Unlike a charity, a CIC is restricted in terms of the funding they can apply for. Although there are restrictions – there are funding opportunities available and within the first year NWCH received funding for their Acorn Project – which helped young people between the ages of four and 18 years old, who have suffered sexual abuse or rape.
The Acorn Project was made possible with the help of grants and donations from The Key Fund and Bromhead Medical Charity. The hub has also received grants from The National Lottery and more recently The Police Crime Commissioner. The hub also receives donations from local businesses in the form of monetary donations or help with services as well as from the general public. These donations are gratefully received and within the confines of the CIC are used for specific projects or development of the hub’s facilities. Unlike a charity, the funds that we receive are usually allocated to a specific purpose. As a CIC, NWCH is bound by an ‘asset lock’, this is a legal promise that the company’s assets will only be used for its social objectives.
A CIC is a social enterprise that can trade and offer services to the public. We offer counselling services at a cost, but we also provide counselling to those who are most in need and who, without this help would not be able to access services that they desperately need. We do this either by funding sessions through projects like the Acorn project or helping clients access funding, through the Bromhead charity.
Whilst it is not mandatory, to show accountability we have a board of directors, which is made up of 1 director and 3 non-executive directors. We also have a team of panel members who hold the directors accountable as well as offering valuable opinions around their own areas of expertise.
We hope this blog has helped you to understand our situation as a CIC. Ultimately we want to help as many people in our community as possible. We employ only experienced, qualified and registered counsellors who have the skills and knowledge to really help those in need. By receiving grants and donations we can continue to provide counselling services to the people of Lincolnshire who otherwise would not be able to access the help they desperately need.
If you would like to donate you can do so here https://nwcounsellinghub.co.uk/donations/
Or for more information on accessing counselling, you can call us on (01522) 253809 Or you can CLICK HERE.
Tags: counselling, mental health, prevention, suicide, young people
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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