A new counselling hub has been opened this week in the car park of Burnham-On-Sea’s Tesco store.
Somewhere House Somerset, a Burnham-based charity that provides affordable and quick counselling support, formally opened its new portakabin this week.
The organisation says this is “a new and exciting development as it means having a dedicated, comfortable, safe and confidential space to meet with children, adults, families and couples to share and talk through deeply personal feelings.”
The opening comes as Somewhere House Somerset has seen a “significant rise” in demand for its counselling services, but finding space to meet clients was difficult and expensive to come by.
A spokeswoman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “The charity committee made the decision to focus its investment with a view towards long-term support and increased interventions.”
“Investing in dedicated space that is available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is a step towards meeting this goal.”
“Our aim is to eventually purchase the portakabin outright and increase our space into more locations, so we can continue to meet the demands of the local community for the type of service we offer.”
“We work hard to continuously fundraise in order to make this vision a reality.”
Tesco’s Burnham-On-Sea store says it fully supports the work done by Somewhere House Somerset, and offered a permanent location for the portakabin to reside in.
Somewhere House Somerset’s mission is to provide a therapeutic service for anyone who chooses to access support in the local community.
It aims to reach individuals who most need help through a variety of services including low cost counselling, educational workshops and community projects with a professional and flexible approach.