Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!Chapter 11 | 83Counselling“There is a wide consensus among service providerswithin the voluntary and community sector thatpsychological therapy or counselling for youngpeople – on issues like depression, eating disorders,or bereavement – can be beneficial… There isevidence that young adults benefit from counsellingwhen they receive it.”Cabinet Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2005Counselling forms a significant part of the work thatthese organisations carry out. Finding ways to ensurequality is important to show that the organisationmeets a certain standard, not only for the youngpeople using the service but also for attractingfunding. We found that organisations were using avariety of different ways to evaluate their services.Youth Access (the national membership organisationfor young people’s information, advice, counsellingand support services (YIACS), www.youthaccess.org.uk) recommends a quality framework which takesinto account different service models but requiresorganisations to work through a quality manual:It is important that the valuable role of the voluntarysector in delivering services to young people is bothrecognised and funded. Tackling the challengesoutlined cannot be done by the voluntary sectoralone. Strengthening partnerships has the potentialto improve services for children and young people.Ultimately, making the most of what the voluntarysector has to offer is as much a challenge for thoseworking in other sectors and particularly those whocommission and fund services. As this project hasshown, there are some difficulties but also manypositive examples of good relationships whichshow what can be achieved and can form a strongfoundation for future work.“Youth Access wants to enable users, staff,managers and funders to be clear about, and beable to communicate and secure, best practice. Thestandards are therefore intended to be used as atool in a process in which an agency assesses andevaluates its services.”Youth Access, 1999Youth Access has recently published two freeresources: one is a toolkit offering evidence, adviceand guidance to assist busy front-line agenciessuch as the ones in this project to meet localand national needs, outcomes and targets, plus auseful guide for commissioners on commissioningcounselling in the voluntary and community sectors(Youth Access, 2007).