Our Summer Update
Summer is usually a quieter time for mental health services, as people enjoy the sunshine, go on holiday and often feel a little better within themselves. Research shows that many of us are affected by the weather due to the relationship between sunlight and happiness, as better weather brings hope whilst the winter months can feel cold and dark.
Despite that, July and August have been the busiest months yet for our team here at The Empathy Project, with 134 sessions in July and 155 in August, and we've increased the number of Community Fund sessions we've delivered as well.
Last week we also had a very positive meeting with the NHS mental health teams in Southampton, which has led to our details being shared with NHS patients in GP's surgeries and community mental health services. Over the last 7 days we've had more new enquiries than ever before, and we're working hard to respond to everyone and book in new consultations.
Most excitingly though is that our team has also expanded, and we'd like to give a warm welcome to Roz, Danan, Rae and Connor as they all join the Project as counsellors. Roz and Danan have already started seeing clients through our service, and Rae and Connor will begin doing so later in September.
We've also taken on a second therapy room in our current building, which we hope to have ready for use by the end of next month.
Important: Reduced Service Levels
Tom and Charlotte are both taking a well-deserved break to recharge after a successful first five months. As part of the core admin team, this also means that we will be less able to respond to calls, emails and new referrals from tomorrow until 16th September.
Our phone line will be deactivated and we will change our voicemail asking clients to email us at contact@empathyproject.org.uk instead.
We are also likely to be less responsive to emails, so if you need to contact us it may take us a little while longer to get back to you. Our priority will be to help existing clients book or cancel sessions, but we will get back to everyone as soon as we can.
Charlie, Chloe, Danan and Roz will all still be seeing their clients as normal, and if you have sessions booked in with them, this will be unaffected. Charlotte may return earlier on 9th September.
If you are a new client and you are seeking counselling with us for the first time, we ask you to please complete our self-referral form on our website. We are working hard to contact everyone who has sent us one recently and book free consultations for W/C 16th September.
We would like to also remind everyone that unfortunately we are not a crisis service, and we cannot provide out-of-hours support. If you are in crisis and need urgent help, please always contact dedicated services such as the Samaritans on 116 123 or the NHS Mental Health team on 111.
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