Tory Council hires Catholic agency to counsel the borough’s teenagers (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Tory Council hires Catholic agency to counsel the borough’s teenagers

April 17, 2011 12:44 PM

• [Apr 15]: TORY-controlled Richmond upon Thames Council has withdrawn funding from a local charity that has been providing counselling to teenagers for the last 20 years and instead awarded a contract for counselling of school-age children to a Westminster based Catholic organisation that requires its counsellors to "uphold and promote the Catholic ethos of the agency".

The Catholic Children's Society says that it draws its inspiration "from Christian values derived from the Gospels and the teaching of the Catholic Church" and recently withdrew from adoption services stating that they were "forced into this position as a result of the Government's Sexual Orientation Regulations" and that "In the unanimous view of the Trustees it would be totally unacceptable for our Catholic agency to act in a way that is at odds with the teaching of the Church."

Off The Record is a small Twickenham-based charity that has been providing confidential counselling services for over 20 years, using both paid staff and a pool of trained volunteers and works closely with Relate, the national counselling charity. Off The Record and Relate had submitted a joint bid to continue their current service, but Richmond Council rejected this bid in favour of one from the Catholic Children's Society. The contract for counselling school aged children, together with a second contract, also awarded to the Catholic Children's Society, for providing 'emotional health support' to children with additional needs and their families are worth £151,692 a year.

Cllr Stephen Knight, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition, said: "This decision beggars belief. Counselling services for young people have to address issues such as contraception, unwanted pregnancy and homophobic bullying and the appointment of a religious group to provide these services on behalf of the Council is totally inappropriate. Most young people facing these issues simply won't want to seek help from counsellors required by their employer to "uphold the Catholic ethos. The fact that Off The Record, an established and well respected local counselling charity, has had its funding withdrawn is scandalous given Tory rhetoric about the 'big society'."

• Off the Record in Twickenham faces cash crisis [RTT 10/03/10]

• Funding for Twickenham youth support service Off the Record slashed [RTT 10/03/11]