Wellspring Therapy and Training, the Harrogate-based counselling and training centre, is about to celebrate its 20th birthday.
The charity provides affordable short and long-term counselling for people in the Harrogate district.
Founded in 2003, it now faces unprecedented demand for its help tackling issues such as mental health and depression.
The Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds and a patron of Wellspring, is leasing a service at St Andrew’s Church in Starbeck on Sunday, October 15.
Wellspring is also holding a fundraising dinner at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate on Friday November 17.
Emily Fullarton, executive director of Wellspring, said:
“This is a very special year for us. These two exciting events are celebrating how a small local charity has survived and thrived during the past 20 years and how we have tackled the problem of increasing poor mental health, anxiety and depression, which has threatened to overwhelm the NHS.
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Founding director Elaine Wainaina set up Wellspring as a Christian-based organisation to help those struggling with anxiety and depression but it soon extended its services to everyone who needed them.
Wellspring moved from a terraced house in Prospect Road, Starbeck into nearby St Andrew’s Vicarage after it was bought for the charity by the Bramall Foundation.
This has enabled the organisation to expand its services in the Harrogate area since 2018 and to relieve the burden on the NHS.
Wellspring hopes to counsel 170 this year and 220 by the end of 2025. It helps children as young as eight.
Ms Fullarton said:
“In the UK, one in four people will experience a mental health issue at least once in their lifetime. According to local research, many people in Harrogate assume because it is a ‘nice town’ people don’t struggle with these issues. That simply isn’t true. There is a huge demand in Harrogate for our services and it’s increasing.
“What makes Wellspring’s work unique in is that we offer affordable long-term, open-ended counselling where needed. Unfortunately, this type of therapy is not currently widely available from the NHS. Most private counselling typically costs between £50 or more for each session, but many of our clients are unable to afford this.”
Rev Jane Ball installed as new vicar for Masham group of parishes
Rev Jane Ball has been installed as the new vicar of the Masham group of parishes in a service led by the Bishop of Leeds, Rt Rev Nick Baines.
The new Bishop of Ripon, Rt Rev Anna Eltringham — who had only moved into her new home in Yorkshire the day before — was also present at St Mary’s Church in Masham for the service on Wednesday.
The Masham group of parishes covers a wide area north of Ripon at the gateway to Wensleydale, with churches in Masham, Healey, Well, Snape, West Tanfield and North Stainley.
Rev Ball has returned to North Yorkshire where she was ordained in Ripon Cathedral in 2003. After being a curate in Bedale, she spent 18 years in southern England in various school, parish and military chaplaincy posts.
A packed congregation of people from these churches and the wider community welcomed her.
The previous vicar was Rev Canon David Cleeves, who retired in June 2021.
Bishop Anna, who succeeds Rt Rev Helen-Ann Hartley as the area Bishop of Ripon, will begin her main ministry in September.
The photo shows Rt Rev Nick Baines (Bishop of Leeds), Ven Jonathan Gough (Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven), Rev Jane Ball (Vicar of the Masham group of parishes), Rt Rev Anna Eltringham (Bishop of Ripon) after the service of institution and induction in St Mary’s Church in Masham.
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Bishop of Ripon formally departs — with no successor imminent
The Rt Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley has formally left her role as Bishop of Ripon after five years to become Bishop of Newcastle.
At a special evensong service at Ripon Cathedral, Bishop Helen-Ann removed her diocesan cope, stole and mitre and placed them on the altar in a symbolic act of standing down.
Paying tribute to to the people of the Ripon episcopal area, she said:
“I have often felt most affirmed in my role as Bishop of Ripon by people and groups who are not part of the formal structures of the church, and for whose support and encouragement I will be forever grateful: by our civic and military partners, those who work in the rural and farming economies and the running community.”
With Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines
She praised Ripon Runners, of which she was a member, for giving her mental and physical challenges, such as once having to define “evil” while running up a hill to Ripon’s Morrisons supermarket.
Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines said Bishop Helen-Ann had been a blessing to the diocese in the five years since she arrived from New Zealand, accompanied at that service by a group of Maori elders.
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Bishop Nick presenting her with a framed aerial view of Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, as a parting gift. He said
“Let us continue to pray for Bishop Helen-Ann and her husband Myles and pray that they will thrive and build new friendships with colleagues in Newcastle.”
The bishop’s final sermon in Ripon.
The appointment of a bishop is a lengthy and opaque process that requires the consent of Downing Street.
The Stray Ferret asked the Anglican Diocese of Leeds when a new Bishop of Ripon was likely to be appointed.
A spokesman said:
“A process to find her successor is underway and will be concluded as swiftly as possible.”