Service offered 2,100 hours of counselling throughout 2020

Since early 2020, we have heard or spoken many times the words ‘a year like no other’, but that doesn’t make it untrue

It was also a year of opportunities, of creativity, of challenges and of resilience.

All the staff and volunteers at Cork Counselling Services, a registered charity operating in Cork since 1982, can relate to these sentiments.

They were, like others, in the midst of the sea-change.

Once the lockdown was first announced, they implemented a system of meeting or phoning clients (about 300 in total) depending on the status of lockdown, and they have made themselves available for counselling throughout the crisis.

Working with clients remotely meant re-imagining and re-assessing practices, policies and procedures.

Staff had to re-train and learn about new IT platforms. The centre in Fr Mathew Street had to be changed to make a safe place for clients and staff to visit. And yet, throughout this seemingly insurmountable set of challenges, their services stayed open throughout 2020, offering more than 2,100 hours of counselling. They saw a marginal drop in new clients engaging with services due to reduced capacity, but the number of approaches for help was significantly up.

The centre’s counselling model meets peoples’ needs - they look to meet people where they’re at.

Community based counselling services have played a part in communities throughout the nation for many years.

Cork Counselling Services are part of the fabric of the community. Many, if not all of their services have a sliding scale for counselling fees.

They say the role they play in creating accessible and affordable services in Ireland cannot be understated.

The centre believes a person should be able to access counselling based on their need, not their ability to pay.