We want to show that there is a way to deliver counselling in the communities where people already are; and that this can be done with the values of fairness and social justice in mind.

We are all experiencing political, economic and social instability in ways that many of us have never known.

• Two years of lockdown

• Spiralling pressures on family budgets

• National and international political unrest

• NHS waiting times, with some of us waiting up to 18 weeks to see someone

• The market in counsellor training and private therapy practice

are causing new challenges to our mental health; deepening inequality and exacerbating the difficult life experiences that we were already dealing with.

Counselling services, and those who fund them, can and should to do more to catch up with social attitudes and expectations on mental health support. We shouldn’t have to find £200 a month, travel to the other side of town or wait months to benefit from counselling.