Mental Health Super Hero
Sue Doughty hasn’t broken the lap record at Silverstone, opened the batting during an Ashes encounter, or sunk the winning put in a tussle for the Ryder Cup. I’d argue she’s altogether more important than that.
Sue, and the amazing team she has nurtured, have created a counselling charity from scratch that provides essential help to people from all walks of life, some of whom are on the very edge of reason. She and her team may not enrich our lives through sport or entertainment, but if the truly frightening statistics are to be believed, they have certainly helped save many.
In February 2017, and unbeknown to her, I along with some fellow trustees decided to apply to have Sue publicly honoured. Part of that process is to encourage people to add comments of encouragement.
During this uncertain time for the country she has proved yet again that she can rise to the challenge of helping people, albeit remotely. In the process making herself ill by continuing to work selflessly for others when she really shouldn’t.
Below are but a fraction of her achievements and two email addresses whereby you can send messages of support for our application. Until this message she has had no idea this was going on, nor would she ever have countenanced it. One thing is for sure though, she richly deserves recognition for her herculean efforts.
A selection of her achievements :
- Graduated as a counsellor in 2001 whilst working full time and looking after 2 young children
- Worked part time as a counsellor for a healthcare procurement company with just £10,000 of working capital
- Formed the Westmeria Counselling Charity in 2003
- Today the charity has 22 counsellors, helping 450 clients and delivering 140 sessions a week
- She created a counselling school in 2015 and has help new counsellors graduate
- Stepped in to help an overburdened local authority and in the process dramatically reduced their waiting list
- They were awarded Charity of the Year in 2015 by Bromley Borough·
- They still to this day rely on their own fundraising efforts with no support from Government
If like me you agree that this woman is a force of nature and deserves to be recognised please email your support to :
George Hilton [email protected]
Joe Pilgrim [email protected]
Westmeria Counselling Services https://westmeriacounselling.co.uk/
Executive Assistant to the Director of Strategic Marketing
4 年The world surely needs more people like Sue. A force with which to be reckoned and truly worthy of a public honour. I stand in awe of your strength and kindness.