Supporting our Children and Young People (CYP) Suzanne Holmes, CYP Service Manager As lockdown came and with it the need to shut down the CYP building we listened to and consulted with young people as to how we could adapt our service to offer remote delivery. Despite young people being those whose mental health has been most impacted by the pandemic, surprisingly few referrals came in at the start of lockdown, something that was also seen across our Manchester partner services. As we developed our remote service we increased promotion and the number of referrals began to increase. Listening Ear was launched in response to the pandemic, supporting people from the age of 15 to address both the symptoms and causes of loneliness. Young people could then be referred into complementary emotional services e.g. Peer Support, Counselling and our Wellbeing Café. Our staff counsellors began providing a service via phone and Zoom. Our volunteer counsellors were temporarily paused whilst they undertook training to enable them to deliver sessions remotely, we also ensured that safeguarding and consent were appropriately managed. Remote delivery was received well by most young people; however, some chose to wait until face-to-face counselling resumed, meaning they would have a longer waiting time.
Annual Review 2020-21
35
