Mental Health Services Will Expand As Scarborough Charity Prepares Third Base

Additional counselling rooms and support services will soon be available in Scarborough as a local charity expands into a third premises to meet surging demand.

Mental health and well-being support will expand across Scarborough this autumn as a local charity prepares to open a third base in the town.

Thousands of residents have turned to Sparks for help, prompting the organisation to take the keys to a new premises on Northway. The expansion aims to tackle a significant surge in demand for services, which included 2,021 counselling sessions, 1,249 crisis interventions, and 604 one-to-one coaching sessions over the past year.

Chair of Trustees at Sparks, Michael Whiteley, said:

"We're really focused on mental health and well-being, and that can be a whole range of things. So supporting people in crisis right through to life coaching, counselling. We have baby groups, we have crafting groups, we have other walking groups. It's really about just helping people in lots of aspects of their lives and so they can live better lives. One of the things about Sparks is we need to be accessible and and we found a great location in Northway and we've got a massive demand for our services. As particularly on the the counselling side and the the baby groups and the health hubs and it's just going to be a great third base for us. And yeah, we just can't wait to get it up and running and and yeah, just supporting yet more people."

The new Northway location will join the charity's existing bases in Barrowcliff and Eastfield. However, the limitation for providing help has not been a lack of volunteers, but a lack of physical space.

Michael Whiteley added:

"So, it can be somebody coming to a baby group and then they just talk about their lives, and that might lead on to life coaching or other groups, crafting groups or walking groups. Some people need much more support and they can either come and have counselling. Lots of people with mental health needs, there's a huge demand and Sparks, we're doing around 40 hours of counselling every week. and our limitation isn't the number of counsellors we can attract to give their time for free. It's the actual the amount of space we have, so we're just limited. So we expect to be able to expand the counselling. We do some super programs where people have got more complex mental health needs. We do a program called Life Maps where we have groups of six people go through quite an intense series of workshops and one to ones."

Two new counselling rooms will be created at the Northway site, which is scheduled to open from October 1st. To meet this deadline, an appeal has been launched for businesses, organisations, and individuals to help transform the building into a comfortable and welcoming environment.

Funding, building materials, flooring, rugs, and plants are all required, alongside office furniture and chairs for the counselling rooms. Contributions towards the cost of specific refurbishment parts are also welcomed.

Michelle Davison-Ward, CEO of Sparks, said:

"Getting the keys to Northway is an exciting moment for Sparks, but the reason behind the move is very simple - more people are coming to us for support and we need more space to be able to respond.

The two new counselling rooms will make a real difference. We want to create somewhere that feels welcoming, comfortable and safe for the people who come through our doors.

We have a lot to achieve before October, so we would love local businesses and people across Scarborough to get behind us. It might be an item we need, help towards the cost of something, or a financial donation. It all adds up and will help us get the new premises ready."

Once completed, the new premises will be officially opened at a special ceremony by the Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Johanna Ropner.

The expansion aligns with the launch of a new website for the charity, where residents can find out more about donating items or making financial contributions.