Project information

PF Young Adults

PF Young Adults is a new counselling resource for Edinburgh offering service to young adults (18-25) on a Saturday. It extends the work of the PF Counselling Service, and aims to support the emotional wellbeing, mental health, and resilience of young adults.

April 2017 - March 2020

Charity information: PF Counselling Service

PF Counselling Service logo
  • Need

    Need

    There is much evidence of deteriorating mental health amongst young people. Demand for counselling significantly exceeds supply in Edinburgh, and the availability of support for young adults at the weekends is particularly poor. Most NHS and many third sector services are only available Monday to Friday, which can make things difficult for many young clients.

    Solution

    PFYA is part of the PF Counselling Service and benefits from the leadership, management experience and ethos of the PF. It expands our service delivery without disrupting the successful core, and includes a number of innovative factors, such as: Providing a service on Saturdays; Prioritising places for young adults; Offering a time-limited service of 12 sessions per client; Providing opportunities for paid work to counsellors.

  • Aims

    Aim 1

    Providing a service on Saturdays.


    Activities

    » We will open for a full day on Saturday for the first time, increasing the utilisation of our premises significantly, at a marginal cost.

    What success will look like

    Recording and reporting on the Saturday opening hours and client sessions attended.

    Aim 2

    Prioritising places for young adults.


    Activities

    » The age range targeted is 18-25s. The service impacts positively on our ability to meet our existing demand, as well as attracting new clients.

    What success will look like

    Recording and reporting the age distribution of all clients attending the PFYA service.

    Aim 3

    Offering a time-limited service.


    Activities

    » Limiting the number of sessions available to each client allows us to offer a service to more clients each year.

    What success will look like

    Recording and reporting the duration of each client's period of counselling from start to conclusion.

    Aim 4

    Providing opportunities for paid work to counsellors


    Activities

    » Many of our volunteer leave for paid work. PFYA provides a new element to the mix of developmental counselling opportunities available at the PF.

    What success will look like

    Recording and reporting the number of counsellors paid, and the total of sessional costs.

  • Impact

    Impact

    More young adults will have better mental health, wellbeing and resilience, or will have had these qualities preserved at a time when they were at risk.

    We will use the CORE standard clinical outcomes measure to demonstrate change in client distress and wellbeing.

    Risk

    The availability of counsellors willing to provide the service. We will recruit from the pool of 100 volunteers already sustained by the core PF service.

    The risk of the programme closing when current funding runs out. We are actively fundraising in an effort to deal with this risk and extend the life of the service.

    Reporting

    We publish an Annual Review - available on our website now - and can develop this according to the needs of new donors.

  • Budget

    Budget - Project Cost: £49,500

    Loading graph....
      Amount Heading Description
      £32,000 Counsellors Pay up to 12 counsellors a session fee
      £3,800 Supervision Pay for monthly clinical supervision
      £1,200 Assessments Pay for initial client assessments
      £2,400 Manager Support for practise and learning
      £6,200 Admin Appointment Administration
      £3,900 Services Premises and project oversight

    Current Funding / Pledges

    Source Amount
    Client Donations £14,400 Conditional
    Gift Aid £1,440 Conditional
  • Background

    Location

    PFYA will accept clients from any part of Edinburgh and the surrounding area. Approximately 30% of the PF's existing client base comes from areas of social and economic deprivation in the city.

    Beneficiaries

    Any young adult under 26.

  • Why Us?

    Why Us?

    It builds on and extends a proven, highly successful, and sustainable service model for providing counselling and psychotherapy in a community setting.

    Read more about the Charity running this project.

    People

    Alison Hampton

    As PF Director - oversight, leadership and clinical governance.

    Wendy Nightingale

    As Manager, direct support for the service delivery, outcomes measurement, and learning of the counsellors.

    Matthew Haggis

    As Trustee, project and financial governance and support.