42nd Street - Online counselling service

A counselling service in Salford has seen the number of referrals to its services significantly increase, now seeing more than one person referred every day.

James Walklate from 42nd Street says the counselling service has received 246 referrals in Salford this year.

42nd Street is a safe and confidential service for 16-25 year olds who are registered to a Salford GP.

This service, which is online and in person, has seen a big increase in demand for counselling – more than one person a day is referred in Salford.

James said: “The most common reason people access our services is anxiety and depression.

“Historically engagement hasn’t been the easiest in the Salford area but that seems to have changed over the last year, we’re getting quite high engagement rates – people are actually coming to appointments and accessing the support that we can offer.”

42nd Street launched a flexible online counselling service in October 2018, to add to their face to face services in the aim of reaching more people.

James added: “It’s quite a big ask for people to go and speak to somebody about inner feelings.

“We hope that our online service can get to people in who are trapped inside houses, it’s another option for young people who live in Irlam, Cadishead or Little Hutton who can’t reach face to face appointments as it’s not easy to get to the city centre from these places.”

42nd Street is safe and confidential, with trained mental health professionals on the other end of the online portal ready to offer their support.

Flyer for 42nd Street, an online counselling service for young people in Salford
Flyer for 42nd Street, an online counselling service for young people in Salford

The service is planning on adding to the services on offer to Salford, James said: “We’re looking to populate our website and YouTube pages with self-help tools, to create a community of support.

“We want young people to see that other people have got support and found a way to cope.”

Listen to the full interview with James below:

Those referred to the online service will be allocated to a worker within 72 hours and can send messages, videos, images, music and emoji’s to their allocated counsellor whenever it suits them.

Scott Lauchlan-Ford, Mental Health Practitioner and Online Service Manager at 42nd Street said: “Young people will be able to access the same individual counselling and psycho-social therapeutic support services as we currently deliver face to face in Salford.

“Users can log in at any time and send messages to their worker, so it’s great for people who might not be able to get online for specific times or who might feel they’re not in a position to commit to scheduled appointments.”

Access to the online counselling service is via the 42nd Street website.

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