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Taking Action on Mental Health
Action Mental Health is delighted to announce that its merger with New Life Counselling takes effect today.
This welcome news is recognition by the Boards of AMH and NLC that by combining resources, services and expertise, there is a better chance of developing and sustaining mental health support for our communities in these challenging times. Going forward, the AMH Board is determined to tackle the disparity of support between physical and mental health services and this development is a mark of its commitment to ‘Taking Action on Mental Health’.
The new partnership takes full effect from today, April 1st, 2020, which means the two charities are now totally integrated. Whilst we are living through an unprecedented period, face to face services based at our usual locations have unfortunately been temporarily interrupted, however great efforts are now in place to continue to offer support to clients in a range of new ways. In future, once the effects of isolation and social distancing come to an end, all services will return to normal. The NLC service will, with a refreshed brand, retain its name, which is well known and recognisable to local communities, clients and professionals.
David Babington, Chief Executive of Action Mental Health, said:
“The Boards of Action Mental Health and New Life Counselling know there is a real need for quality counselling across Northern Ireland. By combining forces, there is a greater opportunity to provide the best possible outcomes for our clients regionally, provide greater staff security and maximise scarce resources.
“By combining AMH with such a recognisable and trusted brand we are confident that NLC will be able to develop and grow their service and reach even more communities across the region. There is a really good mix between the two organisations and existing services complement each other. Most importantly, there is a great similarity in terms of ethos, values and commitment to best practice.
“The current unprecedented environment is really challenging and I believe that it provides even further evidence that the merger is the best way of ensuring we continue to provide quality support to the people using all of our services. Action Mental Health is a charity focused on ‘Taking Action on Mental Health’ and we remain committed to keeping the people we support at the heart of everything we do.”