Determining if tailored approaches widen access to counselling

Wavehill evaluated the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Grant Scheme. The evaluation examined two one-year pilot projects and explored how tailored models had addressed barriers to counselling for people from marginalised and racialised community backgrounds.

The scheme awarded grants to Children North East and Metanoia. Each project worked with trusted partners to offer a different route into therapy:

Children North East and North East Solidarity and Teaching provided flexible, community-based counselling for children and young people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds, supported by interpreters, transport and sessions in accessible locations.
Metanoia and its partners delivered avatar-assisted therapy for autistic adults from minority ethnic backgrounds, giving participants control over their virtual surroundings and ways of communicating.

Approach

Wavehill combined interviews with project staff and participants with analysis of monitoring data. The evaluation showed that both projects had increased access to mental health support by adapting how counselling was introduced and delivered. Referrals through trusted organisations, greater choice and delivery shaped around participants’ needs had all supported engagement.

Impact

Participants in the Children North East project described feeling relief, understanding themselves better and becoming more able to discuss their emotions. Staff also reported greater organisational understanding of refugee and asylum-seeking experiences, while the partnership with North East Solidarity and Teaching developed from referral arrangements into fuller collaboration.

Metanoia participants reported feeling listened to and understood. The virtual environment had reduced some of the social and sensory pressures associated with face-to-face or video therapy, while avatar-based interaction had supported more open conversations. The work also strengthened partners’ knowledge of cultural competence, autism, digital delivery and coproduction.

Across both pilots, the work demonstrated the value of developing counselling alongside organisations that communities already trusted. It left stronger partnerships, increased organisational capability and practical learning that the projects used to pursue further delivery and share approaches more widely.

The report is available to read here.