Since the restrictions on face to face contact were first put in place in March, we have been working hard to respond to the needs of our clients and provided support during this challenging time. Initially all support was provided over the telephone, and then we developed the use of video conferencing as an alternative to this. There are still clients who have been unable to access support via these two mediums and so the return to face to face counselling will remain a priority.
We have continued to process referrals and allocate support to as many people as we can and are now in the process of retuning to face to face appointments in a safe and appropriate way. This return will be phased to ensure we can respond appropriately and adjust as required to the changing needs of all concerned. It is clear from our client feedback the need for remote support will be required for the foreseeable future so our response to service will continue to be provided via telephone and video as well as face to face.
I have provided some data on our activities below to give an indication of the demand and our response to date. The data refers to activity between the 1st April and 31st August 2020.
1044 support calls were made
100 clients took up the offer of ongoing support over telephone or video
377 clients are waiting for counselling to begin
106 team briefings took place
122 supervision sessions took place to support the work of our counsellors
13 applications for funding were submitted
10 applications for funding were successful