23/01/07 -� ‘Your Call’ - a counselling service first for Scotland

The Edinburgh-based Lothian Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) is launching a unique telephone counselling service for disabled people.

Set to go live on January 21, “Your Call” will be open to all disabled people in Scotland over the age of 18 and to their immediate family members. “What makes the service special is that the counsellors are all disabled people themselves, providing them with an understanding of what it means to live as a disabled person in Scotland,” explains service co-ordinator Ian Fuller. The majority of the volunteer counsellors staffing the service have trained over a four year period to Diploma standard in counselling.�

Mr Fuller continues: “Counselling can help people who are trying to come to terms with painful events from their past, or who need support through a current crisis or change in lifestyle. It can also help people who are struggling to manage difficult feelings such as depression or anxiety, or who are seeking direction and meaning in their lives. A counsellor will not judge you, nor tell you how to live your life. Instead, he or she is trained to help you explore your own situation and to support you to find your own way forward.”

Anyone wishing to contact the “Your Call” appointments line should phone 08088 010362 between 11am and 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, and between 11am and 1pm on Wednesdays. Calls are free from home telephones and from some, but not all, mobile networks. The number is withheld and so will not appear on phone bills.

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