Comment by Harborough churches: How the Bower House helps people in the Harborough area

Viewpoint byTrish Gibbard and Philippa Oliver-Dee at the Bower House Counselling Agency

The Bower House Counselling Agency, supported by local churches and other charities, has been serving the town of Market Harborough for over 20 years and still occupies the same building in Coventry Road. Like many organisations and charities we have weathered the storm that 2020 has bought and had to close our doors during lockdown.

However, our service continued to offer support with our helpline and on-line therapy work. At the time of writing (September 2020) we have re-opened for face to face work and have adjusted our working practices to keep everyone as safe as possible.

The service is available to those who live in Market Harborough and within a five-mile radius. People who wish to access therapy simply phone us and self-refer. A counselling assessment is then offered, and if counselling is offered, a counsellor will be allocated. All therapists are qualified or are in training to a high level and initially we offer sessions of twelve weeks.

The ethos of the Bower House has always been, and continues to be, to offer a safe place where people can come and feel heard, valued and recognised as a unique individual with unique needs. As a Christian community, it is very important to us that we offer therapy on a non-discriminatory basis, meaning that counselling is offered to people regardless of their religious, social, racial or cultural background or sexual orientation.

People come to the Bower House for many different reasons including bereavement, depression, abuse (either historic or current), anxiety, isolation, and stress and relationship conflict. Some people feel they have lost their way in life, or that life has thrown so many challenges at them that their resilience is low, and they need space and support to process issues in a non-judgemental environment. The Bower House offers a quiet, reflective, safe space.

Although we have been closed to new clients during COVID, we are now ready to accept new self-referrals. Like most small and independent charities, we are having to look at how we sustain our service within the community. We are indebted to local charities and churches within the community that have given so generously to Bower House over many years. It costs about £1,000 a week to run our service, and for this reason the Bower House Governing Body has recently implemented a minimum donation of £10 a session.

However, we do not want there to be a financial barrier for anyone to access the service and for those who may find a donation a challenge we encourage a call to the service regardless. With most private therapy costing around £50 to £60 per session we feel the service remains an accessible option for those who need it.

Trish Gibbard and Philippa Oliver-Dee are Bower House service coordinators. The Bower House is affiliated to Churches Together in Harborough and you can read more about it on the website: http://www.bowerhouse.btck.co.uk. The telephone number is 01858 469257.