Cambridgeshire can be deceptive – it’s a wealthy county and visitors who tour the historic colleges or smart boutiquesof the city of Cambridge will leave with an impression of solid success. But Cambridge is an expensive city to live in, as are many parts of the county, the wealth doesnot  trickle down to all and deprivation and disadvantage are suffered in both urban and rural communities of Cambridgeshire. To help those suffering from poverty or isolation locally, the Cogwheel Trust offers counselling services to help adults, couples and children cope when life seems impossible. They do not charge for the service, but ask for affordable donations.

Cogwheel provides counselling and psychotherapy support from bases in Cambridge, Sawston and Ely.  Early counselling intervention has been shown to bevery effective and prevents more complex health and social needs from developing.Counselling can enable positive change for individuals and families, leading to a healthier, happier and more hopeful outlook.

Cogwheel’s volunteers have always been trained to a high standard, but the charity recognised that it could offer a unique service locally as a development opportunity for newly-qualified counsellors to find their professional feet, or for counsellors who were in their final year of training. The funding from the Evelyn Trust has now enabled Cogwheel to offer high quality, safe training places to new counsellors, who are professionally assessed, supervised and appraised so they are ready to qualify or practice with confidence. In return for the training and support they receive, Cogwheel asks their newly-qualified counsellors to volunteer with them for up to two years as a way of giving something back for the valuable development and mentoring they have received.

Marla Prudom, Head of Counselling at the Cogwheel Trust, explains the benefits of the initiative: “This is really a win-win situation for Cogwheel’s clients and the counselling profession. We are developing a cadre of volunteers who have been trained to a high standard over several years and can offer the very best professional service to our clients. But these counsellors are also launching and developing their own private practices and will go on to offer a fantastic service to a wide range of clients for many years to come.”