SIA's Telephone Counselling Service

At the current time we are aware that many spinal cord injured people (SCI) and members of their families are struggling with anxiety about Coronavirus and this will be having an impact on their mental health and wellbeing.

For some of these people, counselling can offer the opportunity to talk through these issues with a qualified professional who will provide time and space for them to work through these worries and concerns.

We are pleased to announce the re-launch of our telephone counselling service and to introduce our new counsellor, Ian Younghusband.  Many of you living in the North East will already have had contact with Ian in his role as our Support Network Officer (formerly known as Peer Support Officer) for the region. Ian has a C5 complete injury following an accident 21 years ago and those who know him will not be surprised to hear that in recent years he chose to train as a counsellor due to a genuine passion for helping others. He is a registered Member of the BACP (British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists) and as such operates within the BACP’s Ethical Framework to ensure a safe and professional service.

The foundation of Ian’s approach to counselling is the Person Centred Model. Through the development of a strong relationship between client and counsellor, this enables the client to look at thoughts and emotions they are struggling with, eventually being empowered to find their own answers and direction.

Ian commented:

As a qualified Counsellor I’m really pleased to be a part of SIA’s Counselling service and to have the opportunity to help all of those affected by SCI. Being part of the SCI community myself  I understand the difficulties that people face, which can be unique. SCI has a massive impact on all aspects of life, not just for the person injured but also their family and friends. I can empathise that much more having actual lived experience over a number of years.

This free service will provide support to SCI people and members of their family with any issues affecting their mental health and wellbeing. These could be directly related to the current situation or more generally to aspects such as relationship difficulties, issues around SCI or other things that you don’t feel able to talk through with your family or friends.

Ian will be available to provide six weekly sessions of telephone counselling each lasting 50 minutes. To access this service please complete this form or call our Support Line on 0800 980 0501. The line is open Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm. If you call outside of these hours, please leave a message and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.