LOCAL people with anxiety and depression will benefit from a new service in the town from the beginning of February.
The new service will be offered at Crosspoint, the drop-in and advice centre based in Westbury Market Place.
The sessions will be run twice a week by a local counsellor with over 10 years’ experience, Jo Booth, and her colleague Aneet Sehmi. In time it is anticipated that up to eight clients will be able to be seen each week on a one-to-one basis.
Initially people will be referred to Jo and Aneet by the team at the White Horse Health Centre, where they already provide counselling services, but Crosspoint hopes to widen access in due course.
This service has only been possible with initial funding from the Community Foundation. Although the service will be free, clients will be encouraged to give a donation to help make the service sustainable. Further funding is being sought to enable the service to grow.
Dai Davies, the chair of the charity stated, “We recognise that there is a real need for this service within the area and we are delighted to work closely with Jo and Aneet to offer this on our premises. It really complements the other services that we currently provide.”
Since it opened two years ago, Crosspoint has continued to develop and offer new services to a large number of people from Westbury and the surrounding villages. Although the centre started by offering confidential information and signposting sessions on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, for the past year it has also run a ‘Job Club’ on Friday mornings where people looking for work can receive help with CVs and job applications.
The Market Place centre is also a distribution centre for the Warminster Food Bank, and volunteers are able to exchange food boxes for vouchers that are provided by local health and social care staff and other statutory services to local families in need. Donations of food such as tins and packets can be handed in to Crosspoint during opening hours and are gratefully received.
The team would also be delighted to hear from anyone who can offer support to the organisation through volunteering, fundraising or raising awareness.
Further information about Crosspoint can be found on www.crosspoint-westbury.co.uk
