On Friday, 17th December, the High Sheriff of Suffolk, Edward Creasy, along with his wife, Penny and secretary, Jill, visited the Kernos Centre and presented it with a Suffolk Award, “in recognition of outstanding service to the community in Suffolk, during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Director of Counselling, Chris Boatwright, said, “We are honoured and delighted to have this visit and to receive this certificate from the High Sheriff. The enthusiasm, hard work, energy and commitment displayed by the counsellors, volunteers and staff at Kernos is difficult to convey here, but this award has confirmed that their efforts are commendable and is testament to that”.
The High Sheriff listened with interest, as director and treasurer, Peter Brown, explained how the Kernos Centre opened in Sudbury in April, 2003, as a small registered charity, providing a professional counselling and psychotherapy service to those in need, particularly to those not provided for through statutory provision, and who have no means of financing counselling support.
Peter explained the measures we have taken since lockdown: how we have adapted our service, to include telephone and video counselling sessions, as well as face-to-face appointments at the Centre, for those who require it.
The aim of Kernos has always been to break the cycle of the revolving door mental health care, by working in a deeper, more thorough way with the client’s needs, for as long as clinically necessary, thus saving NHS resources, in the longer term. The High Sheriff agreed with the Kernos approach of early intervention and the way this does save resources.
Chris Boatwright said, “We support and enable vulnerable members of the community to work with their mental health problems and increase their quality of life, so that they can become self-sufficient and participate fully in society. Our mission is to make counselling available to people in need, when they need, for as long as they need.
“We have always worked to address the gap in statutory provision, but it is now much wider than before and increasing, year on year. The local need and demand for our service is therefore much greater, mainly because receiving counselling from the NHS is now almost impossible. This has resulted in Kernos receiving many more referrals from GPs, mental health teams and the West Suffolk Hospital – but without any follow-on funding”.
The High Sheriff stated that “mental health and wellbeing are such important issues, particularly given the impact of Covid”. He expressed his personal thanks to everyone at Kernos, especially counsellors and volunteers, who provide a service to those who are in need, which is almost impossible to obtain elsewhere.
He said, “Thank you very much, for what you are doing: from us, personally; from the office of the High Sheriff, and from the County. Were it not for your efforts, the community of Sudbury would be in a poorer place”.
