No5 supports young people (aged 11-25 years) experiencing psychological and emotional difficulties. We also support their parents/primary caregivers.
Children and young people in Reading are experiencing a significant increase in difficulties with their mental health due in part to coronavirus. More and more young people, their parents and other services are asking No5 for help.
How you can help young people
Young people have had a really difficult time during lockdown and their mental health and wellbeing has suffered. We, therefore, need to provide even more counselling sessions. Our specialist counsellors provide three free sessions per week. To see more young people more quickly, we need to pay counsellors to deliver additional sessions each week. Please donate £35 to cover the cost of a counselling session.
The more sessions we provide, the more support and coping mechanisms our young people will receive. We are seeing referrals on a daily basis which frequently reference anxiety, self-harm, panic attacks and low self-esteem.
Young people can choose counselling via Zoom or face to face, with COVID-19 measures.
Why the community needs us
The Reading community will benefit from the services we offer its young people and their families in working through and resolving their difficulties. This includes improving family relationships, which is a key factor in the emotional wellbeing of young people. Evidence shows counselling supports young people to access better educational and employment opportunities. They are also less likely to engage in harmful behaviours to both themselves and their local communities.
Our impact on the community
The outcomes are improved psychological and emotional well being of our clients. This enables our clients to live happier and more fulfilled lives with improvements in relationships, especially within their families. Clients will are more self-aware and able to manage and modify any previous unhelpful or anti-social behaviours. They will also be able to make better use of educational and employment opportunities, to engage, feel part of, and contribute positively to their communities.
We have established an extensive local referral network, this allows us to signpost clients to other support agencies in the Greater Reading area. As well as maintaining our existing services we are developing and expanding our services in response to young people's needs and the changing world we live in.
