A counselling service has celebrated its 30th anniversary after helping more than 60,000 people face-to-face across Scotland.
CRISIS, which is based in Erskine, supports children, adults, veterans and families and works with people across 23 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.
In addition to the thousands helped face-to-face, the organisation has also supported many over the phone during emergency calls.
CEO and Founder Jean Cumming said: “We get to see the improvement in people week by week, and we get to see families repaired.
“If you help one person, it's helping an entire family, or it's helping an entire classroom. The impact is incredible.”
CRISIS, which has charitable status, marked its third decade of helping people to achieve better mental health with a “wonderful” get together at Erskine Arts Centre recently.
The organisation’s 60 plus therapists form the backbone of the organisation and the event provided an opportunity for these volunteers, who work from various locations, to connect with each other.
“We've got a great team with multiple talents and the knowledge that's built into that team blows my mind sometimes,” added Jean.
“We had a lovely day up at Erskine Arts bringing as many of them as together as we could.
“Kim Wallace, the deputy director of Social Enterprise Scotland, talked about our impact on the social enterprise sector and Councillor Sam Mullin talked about our impact locally.
“We were previously awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service and The Lord Lieutenant talked about the impact we’ve had with veterans.”
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Jean established the charity in 1996 in response to the need for support, guidance and counselling she saw when employed within the NHS.
She realised there were no early intervention services available - only acute services with people struggling, often with limited chance of robust recovery.
This vision has been the driving force as the organisation grew and spread.
CRISIS works with individuals, the public and private sector and a range of health, social care and education partners as well as many other voluntary organisations.
They offer counselling therapy that is not time limited or geographically compromised and gives everyone the opportunity to explore problems that may be causing long term distress.
Between the beginning of January and the beginning of May alone, its therapists had around 500 referrals, half of whom were children.
Indeed, according to Jean, a marked trend has been the “huge numbers” of children who are now accessing counselling, with the service sometimes helping about 700 children a year.
Part of this she explained is because issues that used to bring 13-15 year olds to their door are now also affecting 9-12 year olds.
This change, Jean believes, has been rooted in the use of social media.
“Children have been excluded from the chat group or bullied in it, but there's nobody able to totally monitor that or they’ve been exposed to too much of the wrong thing,” she explains.
“As well is this, it’s also the news that they are exposed to and the war in Iran has escalated a lot of fear.
“All they ever hear are catastrophic headlines.”
The rise in the number of children seeking help, however, is just one trend that the service has witnessed over years.
Following the 25th anniversary of CRISIS, Jean spoke about the increasing willingness of men to self-refer and return for more help if needed.
This continues to be trend in its 30th year, with men now at times making up more than 50 per cent of those seeking help.
“They have no hesitation to walk in off the street and say ‘look can I get a referral form’,” she explained.
“It’s brilliant.”
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