Harborough youth centre launches urgent mission to raise £2,000 as more youngsters seek support following the pandemic

A busy Market Harborough youth centre is launching an urgent mission to raise £2,000 as many more young people seek support following the two-year Covid pandemic.

Staff at the Cube hub at Symington’s Recreation Ground off St Mary’s Road are aiming to generate enough money to buy a caravan.

They will then convert the vehicle into a private meeting space to allow them to help and support more teenagers and children.

The youth centre’s counselling team would usually deal with about 50 cases during an average year.

They would largely be made up of youngsters aged 11-18 looking for support for issues such as depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders.

But in the first two months of 2022, staff have already seen a dozen new referrals – a huge spike on the average of two a month.

The youth centre has one private counselling room.

But this can only be used outside of group hours to protect young people’s privacy and anonymity.

The Cube would like to buy a caravan – with a separate access to allow users to remain anonymous - urgently.

The youth centre is also seeking new counsellors to help boost the number of people it can support.

“We’ve noticed a steep rise in the number of young people in the town enquiring about our counselling services.

“We think that’s down to the pressures of the pandemic,” said Cube Youth Work Manager Ceriann Kelly.

“We have a waiting list of young people needing our services.

“So having the caravan would make a huge difference by greatly increasing the number of sessions we can provide at the Cube.

“We’re also actively recruiting new counsellors, which would mean we could easily triple, if not more, the amount of sessions we could provide.”

When the new counsellors and caravan are in place, the counselling services will be open to young people across the area.

The Cube would accept referrals from parents, schools, GPs and youngsters themselves.

The Cube is staging a fundraising vinyl DJ night on Friday 29 April 29 at Jaga café on St Mary’s Road to help bankroll the new caravan.

To find out more, visit:

https://thecubeyouth.uk/fundraising

You can also donate to the fund via the Cube’s website homepage: https://thecubeyouth.uk/“The Cube currently has two counsellors and is looking for more. “Counsellors must have a recognised counselling qualification of at least level 4, but preferably level 6/7,” said the youth centre.

“They must also have youth specific experience and insurance.

For more details about the counselling you can email [email protected]”