Counselling & Covid-19

In this time of great need, especially when this ‘silent killer’ Covid-19 prowls every corner of the earth, anxieties for quite a few have risen to astronomical levels. This disease doesn’t discriminate between any religion, political affiliation, sex, race, colour etc, and not every community has financial and mental health support in place to do whatever we can to help. Isn’t it ironic though that with the divisions that exist throughout this world, we all need to work as one to defeat this invisible plague. Within our very own community of Mid-Ulster, Lough Shore and surrounding areas, the Mid-Ulster Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (MACP) has partnered with a local funder to do just that. MACP has been funded by the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland since its inception in 2012. In fact, this funder has stood by this project through thick and thin to help those with mental health difficulties through counselling. Funding applications normally take between 3-4 months to process, but the Halifax Foundation have turned an application MACP submitted around in just one week!! one week!!

Brenda Mc Mullan Executive Director of the

    Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland.

We are so delighted to announce that the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland has today awarded a grant of almost £10,000.00 for assistance with online resources and telephone equipment to begin counselling to those most in need very soon. This grant will help to purchase laptops for Zoom and Skype counselling, mobile phones, headsets for telephone counselling and clinical support for all of our counsellors. The grant officers who work for the Halifax Foundation have always been helpful supportive and generous in how they have approached mental health services, but if I could take this opportunity to single out Brenda Mc Mullan, the Executive Director of the Halifax Foundation for her patience and dedication towards those who suffer from any issues around mental health, and for her very steadfast support towards MACP since our initiation. This grant will no doubt help a lot of people through this crisis who otherwise may have had to face it alone. And finally, I would just like to thank all of our counsellors, volunteer counsellors, and committee members, without these guys this project couldn’t happen. Our online and telephone counselling service will be up and running very soon. Further information will appear on social media platforms, and on our website at www.mid-ulstercounselling.co.uk

Joseph Coney (Chairperson MACP).