Funding Cut Threatens Mental Health Service for Children and Adults, Sparking Closures and Job Losses

An essential service aiding both children and adults with mental health issues in Doncaster has had its funding withdrawn, leading to job losses and forcing one section of the facility to shut down.

The Open Minds Counselling Service located on Christ Church Road hasn’t managed to secure ongoing funding for its acclaimed counselling program.

This development indicates that 13 counselors will be let go, and the majority of the management and administrative staff will encounter redundancies in June.

A spokesperson informed the Free Press: "Our capability will decrease from serving 43 children, who must be at least eight years old, along with 43 adults on a weekly basis, down to just 20 adults per week, largely supported by volunteers. Unfortunately, this change means we will have to completely close our child counseling services."

In the upcoming days, we plan to reach out to individuals on our waiting list with advice for seeking assistance through NHS talking therapies or CAMHS. It should be noted that many of these referrals came from NHS entities as those individuals didn’t meet the requirements for direct NHS support.

They continued: “We hope by July to know more about how we can continue our paid-for counselling services, which are charged at £30 a session. Please check out our website at www.counsellingdoncaster.com Visit our Facebook page for updates as they become available."

The service was supported by the NHS via the ICB up until April, followed by a short-term funding extension from Public Health. It was anticipated that the ICB would resume financing from June; however, owing to a significant 50% reduction in their budget, financial resources have been depleted.

The service has explored grant funding options, but most grant providers do not cover counselling services.

The spokesperson went on: "This represents an enormous setback for Doncaster, but we're clinging to the positive aspect that from 2007 onwards, we've provided counseling support to more than 4,000 adults and 1,500 children, of whom 96 percent experienced enhanced mental health and well-being."

We have not reached the point of total closure and aim to gradually return to full capacity in the future, provided we manage to obtain additional funding from alternate sources.

Nevertheless, we cannot predict whether this will occur or how lengthy the process might be, since maintaining our team of 27 staff members operating at maximum efficiency for six days a week requires an annual expenditure exceeding £200,000. In the absence of financial support, we intend to offer counseling services based on the availability of our volunteer workforce, which amounts to roughly 20 hours each week.

The IMP;ACT service, an accolade-winning initiative launched in March 2020 at Open Minds and financed independently by NHS England along with the local council, aids individuals who have made suicide attempts within the past year yet do not exhibit non-lethal self-destructive behaviour. This particular programme remains untouched.