Counsellor sets up private business in the Bircham Centre

A counsellor, who previously worked in the Wellbeing Service in North Norfolk, has restarted her private counselling business in Reepham.
 

Lou Goldsmith

 
Lou Goldsmith Counselling Services now operates from the Bircham Centre in the town’s Market Place.
 
Ms Goldsmith was employed by Mind mental health charity and had worked within the National Health Service (NHS) for the past eight years.
 
However, earlier this year the number of counsellors working in North Norfolk was halved from 20 to 10 and she was made redundant.
 
“This has resulted in counselling being harder to access and low-cost services stretched to long waiting lists,” she said.
 
“The rise in anxiety and depression, not to mention suicide rates, are real and I can only imagine that if more funding is not given where needed then these rates are likely to rise even further.”
 
Having passed her degree in Integrative Counselling in 2010, Ms Goldsmith set up a private practice in East Dereham, where she worked for three years alongside employment at Beat eating disorder charity, and later as a psychological well-being practitioner in the NHS.
 
“It wasn’t long before I secured my ‘dream’ job of full-time counselling for Mind, working within the IAPT [Improving Access to Psychological Therapies] and NHS service.
 
“It was at this point that I gave up my private practice to devote my time to this service, which has provided me with a wealth of experience and a diversity of mental health issues.
 
“My passion for providing mental health support has now taken me in the direction of the local community, working with adults and young people.”
 

 

Related stories: