Sunshine
Project was born in April 2003 after Linda Porter worked in the community for
Olive Tree Project (charity for Domestic Violence). She heard a story from a social
worker, about a young mother who was living in potential danger from her violent
partner returning from prison. She had been told her baby and child would be removed
from the family home if he returned as there was certain danger to life. The young
mother knew she must not have her partner back and yet there was a part of her
that felt she still loved him - a pull to continue the relationship. She knew
that with professional help she could overcome this pull and do what was right
for herself and her children. Unfortunately because of where she lived she could
not find this help. Her doctors surgery could not offer counselling at that time,
and there was no free counselling in her area. She could not afford the cost of
private therapy. Eventually this young mother was saying to her support workers
'my baby is going to have to be taken away'.
Linda
had already realised there was a need for an accessible, affordable therapy and
counselling service during her work through Home-Start, and Fairstead Community
House, but it was this story that gave the final push for the Sunshine Project
to be started. A business course to find the cheapest way to set up and run the
Project, enabled costs to be kept as low as possible for the client. Sunshine
Project is committed to accommodating people who wish to receive therapy and counselling
and have difficulty in accessing these services. This has been further achieved
through working in the home, in local venues in or near Kings Lynn in Norfolk,
and by telephone or internet to reach those further afield
The
young mother did find help through Sunshine Project and today is living a happy
life with her children.
Linda is a Cognitive Therapist with a Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling. She
specializes in abuse counselling and domestic violence. She worked as Fairstead
Community Counsellor for 6 years, and now receives referrals from local doctors
surgeries, and mental health and support agencies, but anyone can refer themselves,
and is welcome to telephone or email to talk about a problem and how they would
like to be helped.
The cost of therapy is £25 per session. The cost of a home visit depends on the location. If money
is still a problem you can spread the cost by having your sessions less frequently
than every week, or you can have half hour sessions at half the cost. (half hour
sessions are not available for home visits)
Telephone counselling is a counselling/therapy
session for up to one hour
Email counselling/therapy includes 5 main emails
from the therapist ( not counting those where a question is asked for instance)
There
is also the option of live one to one internet counselling via msn, each session
lasting up to one hour
All the above 3 options are payable in advance (
via paypal, or cheque/postal order to the Sunshine Project PO Box 1112 Kings Lynn
PE30 5WS) at a rate of £20 per hour
No Paypal account neccessary, you can pay by Credit card or Debit card.
Some
of the problems Sunshine Project currently deals with:
Relationship
Problems (individual, couple or family)
Communication
Depression
Anxiety
and Stress
Domestic
Violence
Abuse
( emotional, physical, sexual, verbal )
Self-harming
Loss
and Bereavement
Confidence
Issues
Anger
Management
Working
with ex-offenders