An invitation to become a

Friend of Bedford Open Door

‘The young people of Bedfordshire are our future’

120 Tavistock Street

Bedford

MK40 2SA

Charity No. 1053008Registered in England as aLtd Company No 3157152,

Registered Office: 120 Tavistock Street, Bedford MK40 2SA

Bedford Open DoorMission Statement

Bedford Open Door is committed to offering an accessible, confidential and free professional counselling service to young people living in Bedfordshire. Our aim is to enable young people to manage their own lives with confidence and safety.

Please send me an application / donation form to become a Friend of Bedford Open Door

Name: ……………………

Address: …………………

…………………………… Postcode ………………..

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Signature:

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Comments from Young People

‘It has been a great experience and has helped me to see things that were less visible before. Life changing-should have done it sooner’

‘Amazing, easier than I thought, glad I came as I am now smiling and happy.’

‘Didn’t know what to expect, was a breath of fresh air. Thank you very much.’

‘It helped me to make the right choices for myself. Having an outsider to talk to helped me to see a lot of things I could not see. The counsellor made me feel welcome and comfortable enough to talk openly. I don’t think I could have got through the past few months without the help of Bedford Open Door. Thank you.’

Past and PresentBedford Open Door was launched in 1995 by a group of people who shared a deep concern for young people.

Their concern was for those whose lives were blighted by difficult life circumstances and the emotional turmoil that followed. Such turmoil that the normal progress one hopes to see in the young was halted or derailed entirely.

In September 1995 Bedford Open Door was formally launched to provide a free and professional counselling service to the young people of Bedfordshire.

Accreditation by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy was awarded to Bedford Open Door in 2011. This was achieved following a detailed analysis of our organization by BACP.

The award reflects the quality of our trained counsellors and the ethical basis of the organisational structure delivered by the Trustees and administrative team.

Our desire is to be able to continue to keep the door open.

An Invitation

To become a

Friend of Bedford Open Door

We invite you to support our work.

Your financial support is essential as it will work alongside our other sources of funding in order to provide a full service across the county.

Your understanding of our work will help promote the needs of young people of Bedfordshire.

We will keep you regularly informed of how the work is progressing and how the monies from ‘friends’ has contributed to this valuable service.

There will be newsletters three times a year.

We will invite you to events as they happen through the year.

To join please fill in the request form and send to the address on the front of the leaflet.

Thank you.

FundingCounselling is an expensive business.

Our counsellors offer their time freely but, as a professional service, we provide supervision by trained supervisors and premises which foster a safe and secure environment for the client. Our administrative team are essential to the smooth running of the service and the management of the funding contracts that are our bread and butter.

For many years we had a service agreement with the local authority, but, as you will be aware, cuts have had to be made. We no longer receive any funding from the borough. We currently have a contract with the NHS which supports a proportion of the work from certain areas of the town. These are the contracts that sustain the work.

Grants and funding for specific parts of the work, such as group work in schools, have also drastically reduced as a result of the economic climate.

In launching Friends of Bedford Open Door we hope to raise additional funds which will top up the shortfall and raise awareness of the needs of young people across the area.