Counselling Service

The first aim identified in the mission statement of the Manna House Counselling Service is :-

"To provide a well respected Counselling Service freely available to all communities in Northampton and throughout the County of Northamptonshire."

Since the service opened on 1st June 1985 this has clearly been the goal and thankfully, to some measure, the goal has been achieved. Starting with a desk, a telephone, an answering machine, two counselling rooms and one volunteer working one hour a day the service has grown considerably.

Now there is the equivalent of five full-time, paid staff, thirty-five trained volunteer counsellors, four counselling rooms, two offices and an annual budget of £150,000 with up to 200 people being seen each month.

We have recently expanded our services to a separate building, to 73 St Giles Street, giving us more space to develop our counselling service and training.

The MHCS offers a professionally trained service to people with problems. These problems might include a troubled marriage, a crisis - such as bereavement or redundancy - depression or suicidal feelings, emotional trauma, anxiety, relationship breakdown, eating disorders, abuse, or a personal spiritual problem. Male, female, young, old, people of faith or no faith - all are welcome. The Manna House Counselling Service is affiliated to the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) who are a nationwide umbrella organisation which standardizes counselling activities. For more information, please view their website.