Hope in Haringey’s borough-wide, early intervention counselling programme was boosted this month when it received “accredited organisation” status from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). This strengthens HiH’s historic arrangement where all counsellors need their own professional accreditation before commencing work with the charity in any school.
By Omar Alleyne-Lawler, Communications and Police Engagement Manager
The BACP, which began in 1977, formerly recognised Hope in Haringey’s counselling work after a six-month review starting in March 2023. The process evaluated Hope in Haringey’s counselling delivery against its charitable objectives, philosophy and values. This included a comprehensive review of HiH’s policies and procedures with a particular focus on its safeguarding and clinical supervision arrangements. Following this review, Hope in Haringey was deemed to have met the BACP’s criteria and benchmarks, granting the charity accreditation status.
Hope in Haringey now joins the ranks of 50,000 BACP Personal and Corporate members from around the UK and is recognised as a counselling service that not only benefits the lives of individuals seeking mental health provisions but also their families and communities.
For Hope in Haringey, this accreditation recognises more than 20 years of hard work; connecting therapists, psychotherapists, and counsellors with local schools for the betterment of Haringey’s vulnerable youth since 2002.
Reflecting on the charity’s journey, Director John Wood MBE said: “We started our programme in four, Tottenham based schools and have since grown to work across Haringey, moving from a charitably funded model to a service-user-funded model. This growth means that last year alone we saw 299 young people receive counselling in regular one-to-one sessions, 232 young people in self-referred drop-in sessions & 123 young people supported through group sessions.”
Run as an early intervention programme, Hope in Haringey’s counselling project exists to directly tackle the extensive and debilitating waitlists young people, their families and carers face when seeking mental health services in Haringey.
Managed by Caroline Ajuna the Counselling Programme currently supports 23 schools and colleges in the borough, delivering 29 days of counselling per week and more than 6,000 sessions per year. Provided through both one-to-one and group sessions across a term, Hope in Haringey engages service users, their schools and families in a holistic approach to mental wellbeing.