Chesterfield charity moves to new town centre premises

Relate Chesterfield and North Derbyshire – which support people who are experiencing relationship issues – has relocated from Sheffield Road to Dents Chambers in New Square.

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According to staff, the new base provides ‘comfortable, confidential and community-focused space’ to deliver services.

Amy Harris, chief executive at the charity, said: “For the last 43 years, Relate Chesterfield and North Derbyshire has always offered a highly professional service to local people.

“The demand for this service has increased during the pandemic in response to the range of challenges local people have endured.

“Prior to the pandemic, we offered a 100 per cent face-to-face service.

“Within nine days, we had re-commenced our entire service remotely by telephone and webcam.

“We restarted our face-to-face work in our new community hub recently, as well as continuing to deliver services via telephone or Zoom for people preferring to access remotely.”

Between April 2020 to March this year, Relate Chesterfield and North Derbyshire registered 728 individuals and offered 2,548 appointments, seeing on average 85 per cent of people free of charge.

The main issues during the pandemic have been mental health, family breakdown, school pressures, suicidal thinking, domestic abuse and bereavement.

Amy added: “Everyone experiences difficulties from time to time – it’s how you deal with them that makes the difference.

“Relate counselling can help you to make the most of your relationships, past, present, and future.

“We can help even if you are not in a relationship.

“We want to help you feel heard and support the right decisions for you to help you think about what needs to change, deal with issues, and strengthen your relationships by positive decisions.

“Whether you are married, living together, in a same-sex relationship, separated, divorced, single or a young person, our confidential service can help you.

“We also strongly believe in help when help is needed, so currently we have no waiting list for most services and can usually offer an assessment within a few days of contacting us.”

For more information about Relate Chesterfield and North Derbyshire, visit www.relatechesterfield.org.uk, email [email protected] or call 07384762877 or 0740134817.

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