South Shields charity gets cash boost to provide free counselling for families during coronavirus crisis

South Tyneside Kids and Young Adults Klub (KAYAKS) - which supports children and young people living with autism and additional needs – has secured almost £5,000 of funding to help families during the coronavirus outbreak.

The charity is working with Sunderland-based Creative Minds North Star Counselling to provide free sessions to KAYAKS members, their families, parents and carers in light of the current crisis.

Community interest company, North Star Counselling which provides mental health and well-being support for children, young people and adults is currently delivering counselling sessions online.

KAYAKS members will be offered an initial telephone assessment and if they feel the service would be of use to them will receive up to six 40-50 minutes sessions free of charge.

“We’re all in the same boat but everyone has different needs and many people aren’t coping very well with the current situation,” said KAYAKS chair, Malcolm Osborne.

“Especially lone parents who may be stuck in the house 24/7 with autistic or disabled children.”

The charity’s outreach service Kope with KAYAKS - usually held twice a week at Trinity House in South Shields - gives parents and carers the chance to “offload” says Malcolm.

But the sessions have had to be cancelled until further notice due to the lockdown measures announced last month.

Click here for live coronavirus updates

“We want people to make use of this new service,” continued Malcolm.

“It could be support of any kind, to do with Covid-19 or grief - a lot of people have lost friends and family.

“From a parent’s perspective it could be that they are worried or stressed and just not getting a break.”

KAYAKS have received £4,800 from funders The Mercers’ Company and members are expected to begin receiving support within a week of making contact.

“There are wider counselling and support services available, but there’s always a long waiting list,” added Malcolm.

“We want to bridge that gap.”

For more information and to access support contact North Star Counselling by email: [email protected] via Facebook page or on 07388513076.

Contact Malcolm directly on 07724162980.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

How to subscribe to the print edition

It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of. Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.