Charity bid to ease mental health crisis

By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk

A group of therapists are aiming to tackle a crisis in mental health provision by establishing a charity offering faster and more affordable help for all ages – and they need one more trustee to be able to do it.

Ian Smith, 54, has gathered the therapists together in Poundbury under the Wellbeing Practice, realising that particularly since the pandemic children and adults are struggling to access counselling and other talking therapies. It’s widely acknowledged that our mental health has taken a hit from the lockdowns. There is also a growth in diagnoses for spectrum disorders in all ages. It’s a perfect storm of trouble brewing – unless people get the help they need, and fast.

Sadly NHS waiting lists for counselling are long, with people waiting up to 18 months for an appointment. Private counselling can be expensive and can also be

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a minefield as people try to find the right therapist for them.

Ian wants to tackle these issues, and offer appointments within ten days, at his premises where the cereal factory once was, just down the road from the Queen Mother’s statue.

County Hospital to help with the fallout of the pandemic on NHS staff. But with life returning to somewhere near normal, that contract is ending. However Ian knows the problems caused by covid are not even close to ending. “There’s quite a scary level of demand,” he said.

The range of therapists he’s gathered include specialists in spectrum disorders, post-natal and birth trauma, obsessive compulsive disorder and gender issues, as well as anxiety and depression. Help will be offered with nutrition, sleep and social integration too.

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He also wants to establish a charity so that he can access grant funding to offer help in circumstances where people cannot afford private therapy. He said: “We have a solicitor waiting to establish the charity and we have two trustees, we just need a third. “I wouldn’t ever turn anyone away who didn’t have the money for therapy, and this is a way we can see of helping as many people as possible.”

Ian was hired by Dorset

Tria Stebbing is a parenting specialist, with a lot of experience with kids on the spectrum. She said: “We run a range of workshops on setting boundaries for children and managing anger.

“Children are diagnosed with ADHD and sensory processing issues and then their mothers are told to just get on with it. There’s no support past that diagnosis.” n To apply to be the third trustee, or to find out more about the Wellbeing Practice go to anxietyassist.co.uk or email hello@wellbeing practice.co.uk or call 01305 236285.

£4.5m for household support scheme

Dorset Council will be awarded over £4.5million to extend its Household Support Scheme for eligible households until March 31, 2024.

West Dorset MP Chris Loder has welcomed the news, adding: “I am pleased to see the government fully investing in the wellbeing of rural communities who remain in need of assistance in difficult economic circumstances.”

Visit dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/ household-support-fund