Funding announced for community-based counselling services in Louth

Two community-based counselling services in Louth to receive at total of €56,000 in government funding to assist in the delivery of essential counselling and therapeutic supports to children and families.

Dundalk Counselling Centre at Seatown Place is to receive €46,000, while Connect Family Resource Centre at Moneymore Estate in Drogheda is to receive €10,000, as part of a €1.5 million national funding package, announced by Minister for Disability, Children and Equality, Norma Foley TD, allocated to 73 community and voluntary organisations.

This funding provides community-based counselling, psychotherapy, and a range of therapeutic interventions such as play therapy, creative arts therapy, bereavement support, and systemic family therapy.

The funding has been sourced in recent years from the Dormant Accounts Fund, but in a significant development, this funding has now been regularised and will be delivered from the annual budget of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

Read also: ‘Forgotten farmers’ in Louth to benefit from new scheme

The €1.5 million yearly investment will enable these services to:

• Increase counselling and therapeutic capacity;
• Reduce waiting lists for children and young people;
• Provide supports to those who may otherwise be unable to access services due to cost or location;
• Embed a more sustainable response to the growing demand for child and adolescent therapeutic support.

The decision to regularise funding for these services was informed by a detailed survey, completed by organisations who had previously received funding through the Dormant Accounts Fund, on the outcomes and impact of their funded services. Tusla also engaged closely with its area offices to assess need and guide the allocation of funding on a targeted, evidence-informed basis.

Announcing the funding, Minister Foley stated: “This funding will help children and young people to get timely and effective access to counselling services in their own communities. These services are deeply responsive to local needs. They play a vital role in delivering therapy for children and young people and their families when they are most needed.”