A new charity has teamed up Wigton Youth Station to create a wellbeing space to provide support to young people in the area.
The Windmill Trust has been set up by two specialist therapists with over 35 years of experience between them of working with complex emotional needs.
The space will be used during the day for creative psychotherapy sessions for children and young people who have experienced difficult life events but who are unable to access support through statutory services.
While some children qualify for therapeutic support through social services or the NHS, there are many others who do not meet the criteria for this but who are suffering. In the evening, the space will be used for relaxation sessions, small group work or one-to-one pastoral support.
Lesley Ritchie, chair of the Windmill Trust, said “Through our work we have seen a rise in the numbers of children who cannot access funding for therapy who desperately need a therapeutic approach that takes into account their trauma history and how that presents in the therapy space.
“That often means that a non-verbal and creative style of working is the most appropriate and child-centred. The children we see need long term, one to one therapy to address the difficulties they are experiencing.”
The trust has already raised £31,000 to begin providing relationship-based, creative, trauma-sensitive psychotherapy to children in the area.
Pip Chapman, the trust’s project manager, said: “We’re just so grateful to Wigton Youth Station for working with us to create this space that will make our work possible. We are happy that the space can also be used by their young people in the evening and add to the really important youth work that Wigton Youth Station provides.
“Without them many young people in the area would have nowhere to go in the evenings where they can be heard and understood, which would undoubtedly lead to more likelihood of mental health issues in the young people of this town.”
Both charities are supported by Francis C Scott.
