The What Centre is a charity located in Stourbridge that provides free counselling and advice services to young people ages 13 to 25 who are registered with a GP and live in the Dudley Borough. They have 17 counsellors who provide services related to sexual health, pregnancy testing, counselling for issues like abuse, self-harm, and relationship problems. The centre follows the ethical guidelines of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and has policies in place regarding confidentiality, exceptions to confidentiality if a client intends self-harm, and data protection. Relevant legislation includes the Data Protection Act, Equal Opportunities policy, Children's Act, and Health and Safety at Work Act.

1. Nichola Hanson-Jones

2. The What Centre are a Stourbridge based Service that provide
advice and counselling
for young people between the age's of 13 and 25 yr s Providing
that they are
registered with a GP and reside in the Dudley Borough. The
services that they offer
are free of charge as they are a registered charity.

3. They have 17 counsellors at the centre a mixture of paid, volunteer
and placements
who use their various skills in a variety of roles within the centre such
as Advising on
contraception and sexual health through to performing pregnancy and
chlamydia tests
and counselling the clients who come in for these.

4. As well as offering one to one counselling services for issues such as
Abuse,
self-harm, suicide, anger, eating disorders, bereavement, relationship
problems,
substance and alcohol abuse and any other issues that can affect a
young person.

5. The centre are BACP accredited and as such they follow there ethical
framework
and guidelines when it comes to how they practice, provide and
maintain a professional standard of service and care for their clients,
just as a privately practising
counsellor would.

6. Under the guidance of the BACP they have a large amount of polices
and procedures
in place which are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that they are
suited to the needs of the clients and relevant to the services that they
offer, as well as been
relevant to the current law. BACP see confidentiality as a
fundamental obligation of
the counsellor and it forms the basis of the client/counsellor
relationship.

7. There are however exceptional circumstances where the counsellor
may breach
confidentiality. The What Centre has a policy in place where if a
client discusses
self harm or suicide then they inform the clients GP.

8. This along with other issues of confidentiality are discussed with the
client before
counselling takes place. Confidentiality is only broken in accordance
with BACP
guidelines where the client is at risk or may cause harm to themselves
or others.
However as the centre receives funding for its services from the
Primary Care Trust
and The Big Lottery Fund clients are asked to sign a consent form that
allows the centre to inform these organisations of the types of services
been accessed by the clients and how often.

9. Confidentiality is covered by the Data Protection Act 1998 which
ensures that any organisation that deals with personal information
protects peoples fundamental rights
to privacy.
Other relevant legislation would include Equal opportunity policy
which
ensures that all clients are not discriminated against on the basis of
their race religion gender and sexuality.

10. The Children’s Act 1989 is also relevant to the what centre as the
service they offer is for clients between the ages of 13 and 25 yr s
This act was implemented to improve the overall well being of
children and allows authorities the right to intervene if the well being
of a child is in question.

11. The what centre will use child protective services if a child’s safety is
in question. Another key piece of legislation relevant to the centre is
that of the health and safety at work act 1974, which manages the
risks of employees, ensuring first aid arrangements are in place and
all accidents are reported and it also ensures that company’s provide
the right work place facilities.

12. The What Centre are also covered by all the relevant Insurance
policies such as public liability insurance and professional indemnity
insurance. They are also members of the Bacp's insurance scheme, but
they also advise volunteer counsellors to take out their own insurance
although it is unusual for a counsellor to be sued people are more
aware of there legal rights these days and as a result if they become
dissatisfied with the service for any reason a costly law suit could
arise

13. While the staff at the centre are competent in a range of areas they
also recognise when a clients issues are beyond there capabilities and
have a substantial data base of agencies and specialists to whom they
can refer clients onto should the need arise, they use government
legislation on safe guarding when referring clients to child protection
services. When a client is at risk of self harm or suicide they have a
policy in place that allows them to contact a clients GP, they will also
use a clients GP if they need to refer a client to CAMHS, who deal
with mental health issues for children and young people in England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

14. As you can see The What Centre offer a full range of services for
their clients, from a drop in advice centre right through to one to one
counselling,we hope we have given you some insight as to how the
centre works and some of the legislation that governs what they do.
we have printed you a copy of our presentation along with a copy of
there annual report 2010/2011.
thank you.