Amal Trust

What is counselling?

Counselling offers someone the chance to focus on problems they have, and talk to someone about their difficulties and feel listened to without feeling judged or criticised.

There are different forms of counselling whether private or professional and there are different reasons why someone might be counselled for example marriage counselling or to focus on specific areas such as drug or alcohol problems.

What is the need for counselling?

We live in fragmented societies alienated from our surroundings and others. Often many of us no longer live in supportive communities that offer a network of support systems for example through extended family or religious faith and beliefs.

Our communities are varied, consisting of young people, men, women, families, refugees, asylum seekers, offenders and ex-offenders and their families who require support. Few counselling services are sensitive to the needs of such a diverse community and those that exist are limited in number.

What areas can be worked through with counselling?

There a range of reasons why someone might be attend counselling, for example:

Bereavement, relationship issues, survivors of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, emotional, social and behavioural difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem and confidence and addictions.

What counselling can offer?

Counselling can offer people a way to reorganise how they see their world and view things from a different perspective. It aims to support the individual to come to terms with his or her life and become a more self-governing, spontaneous and confident. Through counselling the individual can grow into a secure independent person who can be a positive member of the community.

Problem Identification

Many of us no longer live in supportive communities held together by valuable support systems such as the extended family or religious faith and beliefs; we live in fragmented societies alienated from our surroundings and each other. Within the past two or three decades, counselling as supportive activity has grown in both popularity and general availability. It seems likely that counselling is fulfilling a need, met in the past by other means.

However to date there are limited comprehensive counselling services aimed at addressing the needs of a diverse community. We have young people, women, men, families, refugees, asylum seekers, ex-offenders and their families who are in need of support in our community but limited places that are sensitive to these needs.

Amal Trust has seen this gap and need and has already started work in this area. To begin this process Amal Trust has sought the advice of a qualified and experienced counsellor to work with Muslims and Non-Muslims members of the wider community who are keen to develop counselling skills and be a source of advice and support to individuals. Amal Trust realises that counselling offers individuals the opportunity to reorganise their subjective world, to integrate and actualise themselves. Amal Trust see the key process, therefore is facilitation of the experience of becoming a more autonomous, spontaneous and confident person, which helps an individual to come to terms with his or her life and grow into a secure and independent person and therefore be a positive member of the immediate and wider communities.

Aims & Objectives

• To create and provide an advice and counselling services to its community whereby offering support to its members who can then live fulfilling and integrated lives within the wider community.
• To provide a counselling service and a supportive network for offenders/ex-offenders and their families.
• To provide a counselling service for families
• To provide a counselling service for women.
• To develop among young people a culture of purposefulness and responsibility by providing a pastoral service.
• In the areas of life learning and personal development, address the needs among our young people.
• To encourage and foster self-help projects among Muslim and Non-Muslim families based on sharing and social acceptance.
• To embark on projects that will encourage the social inclusion of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, single/lone parents and children.
• To foster the practice of maintaining good health and well-being among families of Ethnic Minority families refugees and asylum seekers.


Amal Trust Counselling Course has provided help and support to individuals and families in the following areas:

Gro

• Offenders/ex-offenders
• Families of offenders/ex-offenders
• Young People
• Couples
• Lone/Single Parents
• Families
• Women/Men

Target Areas

• Bereavement
• Survivors of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
• Behaviour, social and emotional difficulties
• Relationship issues
• Self-esteem / confidence
• Addictions