Referral Procedures

INFORMATION ON THE SERVICE

This may be of help to you when referring a young person for counselling.

BEDFORD OPEN DOOR

Bedford Open Door is based in Bedford and is a free youth counselling service. Founded in 1995, it provides skilled individual counselling for young people in personal difficulty and distress.

The service offers short and long term counselling to people aged 13 to 25.

Open Door counsellors are all qualified to Diploma level 4/5 and some are working towards, or have already acheived, accreditation. They are carefully selected and trained by the service and work within a network of support and supervision. The service subscribes to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Code of Ethics and Practice.

COUNSELLING

Open Door counsellors help clients to explore their world from their point of view, to set their own goals, and to find and use their own resources to help empower them to resolve their own problems.

The counsellor’s task is to create a trusting relationship where difficult and distressing feelings can be shared by the client and where more effective means of coping can be found. Through increasing self-awareness can come lasting and constructive change.

COUNSELLING AT OPEN DOOR

Counselling is an appropriate form of help with a wide variety of difficulties including:

Problems with family or other relationshipsLoneliness, anxiety or depressionLow self esteemDistress through bereavement or lossEating disordersRape or sexual abuseLack of confidence and social skillsDifficulty in making decisionsConfusion over sexualityDifficulties with alcohol or drug abuseSuicidal feelingsOr just feeling that things could be better.

At Bedford Open Door we are happy to see anyone in difficulty, whatever their circumstances.

REFERRING TO BEDFORD OPEN DOOR

We like clients to self refer to Bedford Open Door. However we appreciate that approaching an organisation can be daunting for a young person. If you are working with or know of a young person in difficulty who could benefit from different or additional help, a referral to Bedford Open Door may be appropriate. We can then suggest the best way for the young person to make contact with us.

Bedford Open Door’s service details are given on the service details page. For some clients it may be sufficient to simply pass on this information with one of our leaflets. If they decide to visit the service we will try to see them within a couple of weeks for an initial session. However there are times when the service operates with a waiting list. You will need to ring and speak to a member of staff to discover how long a client is liable to have to wait.

Our staff are available to discuss the referrals and to explain the service which we offer.

If counselling at Bedford Open Door is not appropriate, we will suggest other sources of

professional help.

Tel: 01234 360388

Email: counselling@bedfordopendoor.org.uk

Write: 120 Tavistock Street, Bedford,

MK40 2SA