New counselling service offers care for the carers

Tuesday 12 October 2021

Two counsellors in Jersey have set up a new service to help those working in the island’s charities and non-profit organisations.

Room 2 Talk is run by Helen Morgan and Steve Ricou to offer counselling for anyone who works or volunteers for charities and needs to talk.

Explaining why she wanted to start the service, Helen went back in time to discuss how she moved from finance into the field of mental health, taking a counselling course to understand the “the deeper aspects of mental health.” 

This turned into a passion, with Helen going all the way to diploma level qualifications. 

Pictured: Helen she wanted people to know that seeking help for a mental health issue is no different to seeking help for a physical ailment from a GP. 

Having worked with Family Mediation Jersey for the past six months, Helen has now decided to return to the practice “close to [her] heart” - counselling.

She has set up Room 2 Talk, a non-profit which focuses on giving charity workers a chance to talk.

She is running the service with someone she met during her time training as a counsellor, Steve Ricou, who has spent over a decade working with children as a key worker at secondary schools on the island, as well running his own counselling service.

Helen said the pair had recognised that “there’s a big waiting list for mental health services in Jersey, and, whilst there are private practitioners, it can be very expensive for the majority of people to be able to afford to go private.

“So we set up Room 2 Talk… to be able to provide low cost counselling services, but to a specific set of people, and that’s to the people who work, volunteer or are the members of charities and non profits…

“We wanted to give back to those already giving back to the island.”

The service has already seen “a lot of interest” since launching two weeks ago, with Helen saying that she hopes people "will recognise that there is the ability there to get some counselling more quickly than is currently available.” 

She added that the other reason the pair wanted to set up the service was to offer counsellors-in-training like she once was, who are nearing the end of their qualification, to do hours at the agency give them the hours with clients they need to qualify. 

"We wanted to build on this, and give more people the opportunity to get counselling more quickly,” Helen said.

Pictured: Room 2 Jersey was established by counsellors Steve Ricou and Helen Morgan.

A session is currently £30, as the service is currently completely privately funded, but she said that as it grow and funding is more sufficient, they are hoping to offer means-testing to determine reduced sessions and free sessions for those who are in desperate need of them.

Speaking about the perspective Jersey could have on mental health, Helen said that people should see it as no different to “when they go to a GP with physical health issues.” 

“Having a mental health issue is just a normal fact of life,” she summed up.

“If you go through something traumatic such as a loss, a separation, a divorce, for example, then it’s not weak to want to talk to somebody about it to get help to talk through it. 

“That’s not a sign of weakness - asking for help at at time like that is actually a sign of strength - to give yourself that outlet, it’s nothing to be ashamed about.”