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12
Oct
‘We should be investing more in children’s services’, says Harrogate mental health charity boss
A Harrogate mental health charity chief executive is stressing the need for increased support for children and young people in the district.
The Stray Ferret recently met Nick Garrett, chief executive of Wellspring Therapy and Training, who told us the issues the charity faces.
Mr Garrett struggled with his mental health as a child, but said that his issues "really weren’t well recognised".
He spent a small amount of time in the care system during his youth, and admitted that many of his unrecognised issues only became apparent once he became an adult.
However, in his current position, Mr Garrett aims to change the way mental health is perceived among young people and increase the support available to them.
He said:
When you think that 75% of mental ill health starts before the age of 18, then it’s very clear to me that we should be investing more in children’s services.
At Wellspring, we have about 35-40 people volunteering their time to do adult counselling, but we struggle to persuade people to volunteer in our children’s services. What we want to do is have more paid members of staff in our children’s service while relying more on volunteers in our adult services.
But the charity hasn’t been without its struggles.
Wellspring began to make redundancies in November last year as part of a restructuring exercise, due to a downturn in income.
The charity’s financial reports for 2024 showed that it had made a loss of around £51,000. Around a third of its income comes from foundations and trusts, from which funding has significantly reduced.
Mr Garrett said covid had a big impact on foundations’ funds, meaning there’s less to go to charity. As a result, charities like Wellspring have had to focus more on donations from individuals.
The chief executive said that this creates a competitive mindset between charities to secure funding from individuals, in a sector which he believes “should be collaborating”.
He said:
Having to operate with reduced funds has been going on in the statutory sector for years. It’s no surprise that those challenges would come into an organisation like Wellspring. The challenge is to do much more with less people and think carefully about how you do it.
It was difficult for staff on the front line who are so passionate about what they do. To be laid off when they’re already on low wages and just doing it out of passion is very difficult. It was difficult for Wellspring because we hadn’t experienced that before. We were experiencing a period of growth and then we were faced with a situation where we had to deliver the same impact with less people on the payroll.
Pitch Positive - football sessions put on by Harrogate Town in partnership with Wellspring.
Mr Garrett said his default position is that charities should be like that, though, and have more volunteers than paid staff.
Reduced capacity means Wellspring currently has a six-month waiting list, though.
Mr Garrett described it as "awful", saying that a lot can change in a child’s life in six months. He added that Wellspring therefore has a challenge in attracting more volunteers and counsellors to join them.
With a decrease in paid staff and less funds, Mr Garrett is determined to make the charity’s money count. This comes in the form of creative therapists — therapists who use art or music to help people express themselves.
He said:
We believe they’re the future of Wellspring as they can work with children as young as four. They can work with all sorts of different people and backgrounds and have a higher professional standing than a lot of talking therapists. They can have a better impact on someone’s life.
For example, we had an eight-year-old boy who was down to one hour a week at school, which is an absolute disaster. He’s been working with one of our art therapists every week for three months, and we’re already seeing improvements. He’s already starting to make friends and is better able to cope with some of the challenges in his life.
Mr Garrett said that there is a whole generation of children who are suffering mentally post-covid. With no access to other children as toddlers, many of them didn’t learn how to interact with other people.
So, what can be done to help?
Mr Garrett had his say:
We need to challenge the myth that people are making up mental health problems. While there is a tiny amount of that going on, by and large, they aren’t. Unfortunately, some media providers push the narrative that they’re being made up with clickbait articles. We need better standards and ethics in journalism to drive debate in a direction that’s healthy for society.
We need to have more focus on the welfare of children and young people. It’s a whole society approach – businesses, local government and charities. It’s not all about schools. They’ve been persuaded to deliver mental health services in an education setting and they’re under a huge amount of pressure.
I have a fundamental belief that the more we can do to prevent mental health issues the better we can be as a society.
People can be referred to Wellspring via their GPs, social prescribers, family and friend referrals, and through their website, which you can find here.
Therapy and counselling sessions cost as little as £5 per session, compared to the average therapy price of £60, but you can donate more if desired.
Mental health hotlines
If you, or someone you know, are struggling with your mental health, there are national services that can help you, too. We have listed a few below.
MIND - 0300 102 1234
Samaritans - 116 123
SANEline - 0300 304 7000
National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK - 0800 587 0800
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – 0800 58 58 58
Papyrus HOPELINEUK - 0800 068 4141
If you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you can call Switchboard on 0300 330 0630
If you would prefer not to talk but want some mental health support, you can text SHOUT to 85258
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