February marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of Horsham and Crawley Counselling Group (‘HCCG) – a not for profit Community Interest Companyt hat supports the mental health of adults, children and young people in Horsham and Crawley. To celebrate the occasion we are holding a Big Birthday Tea for our team members, both past and present, at Park Barn in Horsham on February 28th.
From a founding group of 7 counsellors, our team now numbers 37, offering counselling from our building, a former Railway Mission Chapel, in Oakhill Road in Horsham.2 In 2020, HCCG became the proud recipients of WISE NatWest/Pioneer Award for outstanding leadership by women in a social enterprise. Every year, our dedicated team delivers over 2,000 sessions of low cost counselling support to residents and their families. HCCG is also trusted to support the mental health of the employees of both our local councils, other organisations and corporate partners.
Rachel Gardiner-Hill, Lead Director, commented “In 2015 this service was faced with closure and eviction from our building. A small but dedicated group of counsellors took the service on and turned it into a thriving Community Interest Company – we like to think we’re a talking business where society profits.
We were lucky enough to find a private benefactor who saved us from closure by securing our building, in the belief we could run the service efficiently. We’re honoured to continue the legacy of the Railway Mission from 1865, that our building be used in perpetuity to support our local communities.’
HCCG plays a vital role in supporting the local community by providing long term counselling support at low cost and relieving pressure on the NHS. Our biggest challenge now is to help our clients to maintain their mental health support in the face of the cost of living crisis and economic uncertainty. This year, once again we will launch our ‘Stop the Drop’ campaign to secure funds to help clients to stay with their counsellors.
HCCG recently contributed to a report commissioned by the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) that highlighted the vital role that third sector organisations play in providing mental health support in this country. To us our work seems as important now if not more, then it did ten years ago
