Charity Compass counselling in Lymington which offered low cost help for people in New Forest is closing after 25 years

A LYMINGTON charity which has been providing low-cost counselling to people in need for 25 years is being forced to close after its lease was terminated.

Established in 1998, Compass Counselling has helped an estimated 2,000 adults in the New Forest area.

It was based in the Jewson building on Gosport Street which was sold after the branch closed in July.

Faced with the relocation expense and ongoing funding issues, its founder David Lewis, a psychodynamic psychologist, says the service now cannot continue.

“Despite considerable support from both our local MPs over the years we have been unable to persuade the NHS to provide the funding necessary for our continued survival,” he said.

“Compass has been kept afloat over the years by support from trusts, local benefactors and the work done by our volunteers amounting to around £50,000 per annum.

“The NHS has stressed the necessity of supporting mental health services ‘embedded in the community’ because without sustainable funding we remain vulnerable.

“We have for many years been attending MP Julian Lewis’s initiative to support our local mental health services, along with representatives from Southern Health, to raise these concerns.

“The shortfall in funding at a time when we faced the prospect of having to relocate at short notice has left us with insufficient reserves to carry on.”

In a statement, chair of Compass trustees John Barns said it was “with great regret” the service would close on 24th November.

“The main factor that has triggered this difficult decision is that, after 25 years of occupancy, the lease on our purpose-adapted premises in Lymington is to be terminated by our new landlord,” he said.

“At the same time, in common with many other small charities in these economically challenging times, we have recently been unable to secure the donations and grants that have previously supported our work – the consequence being that Compass doesn’t have sufficient funds to pay for the high cost of finding and adapting suitable new premises, while at the same time continuing to meet the increasing costs of service provision.

“Therefore, after careful consideration of all the possibilities, the trustees have decided that we now have no option but to oversee a carefully managed closure of the service before we are obliged to vacate Compass House.”

Until the closure, the clinical team would be “doing everything possible” to ensure each client was “offered the proper respect and care due to each one of them, according to their clinical needs”.

Mr Barnes added: “After meeting all our financial obligations, there will be a residual fund of money which the trustees of Compass have unanimously decided should be donated to support the excellent work of Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington.”

One client said he was saddened by the closure plans: “I have received absolutely excellent counselling from Compass, they have really helped with my mental health.

“I am very sad they are going. I could not afford to go private and the NHS counselling service has long wait times. Compass enabled me to get vital support that I could not have afforded otherwise.”

Mr Lewis said he set up Compass because at the time there was “very limited access to a service offering longer-term counselling” in the New Forest.

It received support from donations and grants, meaning it could subsidise fees for those on low incomes, “ensuring that everyone can access counselling no matter their financial situation”.

New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne has been a big supporter of Compass. He said: “I am very sorry that the excellent service will no longer be available.

“My understanding, however, is that Compass was not in receipt of any NHS funding and that closure is a consequence of very significant removal costs consequent on the sale of the existing premises by the landlord, at a time when grant funding is scarce.”

Sir Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest East, said it was “disappointing that such private initiatives cannot draw reliably on the wider health service network”.

He continued: “Compass Counselling and its volunteers have made a valuable and selfless contribution to mental health in our area.”