A new professional counselling service in Sudbury has set out to help meet the continued high demand for wellbeing support, while also providing a pathway for new student therapists.
Nightingale Therapy and Placement Services is offering free 20-minute counselling taster sessions throughout this month, as it seeks to establish itself in the community.
The business is based at the Old Press Rooms in Station Road – formerly the home of the ExploringU Centre for Wellbeing, and its associated service, Just Talk, before closing in September 2023.
Certified therapists Sharon Kendall and Peter Myers subsequently took over the lease on the premises and founded their new service, with a team of qualified and trainee counsellors now providing face-to-face and online support.
Sharon, who had been part of the management team at Just Talk, said they chose the name Nightingale because the bird’s symbolism – representing the expression of emotions and “our authentic self” – fit their beliefs as counsellors.
“Together, we want to continue to offer a professional counselling service within our community,” she told the Free Press.
“We do not have a waiting list and clients therapy sessions start within two weeks of having their assessment.
“If, for any reason, there is a delay in their therapy sessions starting, we offer free phone call check-in sessions, which makes us different from other organisations.”
In addition to counselling for individuals, Nightingale has introduced an employee wellbeing programme to help businesses and other organistions to support their workforce.
The service has also aligned itself with local colleges to offer placements for students looking to become fully qualified.
Pete explained that he had personally seen the benefits of the student pathway, having joined Just Talk as a trainee in 2019, and stayed on after becoming a certified counsellor.
“We felt there was a good opportunity to continue the placements for training counsellors,” he said. “We really wanted to continue that side of things.
“What we hope to do is create the environment where they stay with us, because that continuity is really important for growing the business.
“When I did my training, I was required to do 100 client hours, which seemed quite daunting, but, as you get into it and have the support of the counsellors, I found it really satisfying. I found working with every client fills me with enthusiasm.
“The need for counselling is as strong as ever. Making it affordable is really important in the current climate as well. We have a varied range of clients who come to us.
“What we’re seeing a lot of now is, even though the covid lockdown was over two years ago, a lot of people feel it still having an effect on them. I think that’s the effect it had on people’s social connections and skills.”
Nightingale Therapy and Placement Services is also planning to launch group sessions for people aged 18 and over, called ‘Sudbury, Let’s Get Talking’, starting in June.
For more details, go online to nightingaletherapyandplacementservices.co.uk.
