People who attend Buckinghamshire Mind services have been asked how satisfied they are with the charity’s provision. The results were very encouraging, with over 90% of users of the Prevention Matters and Counselling Services rating them as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’.

Buckinghamshire Mind conducts Satisfaction Reports twice a year, to ensure that services are meeting the needs of those who use them and to identify areas for improvement.

“In our three-year strategy, launched in 2016, we challenged ourselves to ensure continued improvement in the quality of our services by setting ambitious targets,” explains Andrea McCubbin, Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire Mind.

The target for Year 1 (2016) was for 80% of Buckinghamshire Mind service users to rate their experience as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’, rising to 85% in Year 2 (2017) and 90% in Year 3 (2018).

“I’m delighted that all our services have met the target for Year 1,” continued Andrea, “and it is a real testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff and volunteers that some of our services are already meeting the target for Year 3.”

Buckinghamshire Mind encourages feedback from all its service users through bi-annual satisfaction reports, suggestions boxes in every service, service user evaluation tools and it’s Service User Council (SUC), which is run by and for service users.

For more information about the satisfaction reports, please contact Kaya Mallinder, Fundraising and Communications Officer, at [email protected]

If you would like to join the Service User Council (SUC), please contact Adam Makeham, Chair of the SUC, at [email protected]

Satisfaction Report Results:

Case Study

Terry (name changed for confidentiality) was 28-years-old when he referred himself to Buckinghamshire Mind’s Adult Counselling Service. Terry had been living with his partner and their two-year-old son, but had been told to move out because of his aggression and anger. Terry was now living back at his mother’s house, which he did not like. He was desperate to move back in with his partner and son, but his partner had told him not to come back until he, “sorted himself out.”

Terry described himself as always being angry and quick tempered, even as a child. He said his partner had asked him to leave because he had come close to hitting her during a recent argument. Terry recognised that his anger was not helping him but he didn’t know how to stop it or why he felt that way. He had lost his job and was now on benefits.  One of Terry’s main concerns was his young son and the fear that his son would grow up just like him.

During counselling sessions Terry described his childhood. His mum looked after him and his younger brother on her own because his dad had left when Terry was six-years-old. Terry had not seen his dad since he left the family home. It soon became apparent that Terry did not have much of a childhood and he had had to grow up very quickly.  At a very early age he had a lot of responsibility and his mum relied on him due to her own mental health issues. This was all very matter of fact to Terry, it was just how it was and in his own mind he had to get on with it.

At first Terry was very defensive about his childhood and younger years. He couldn’t see any connection to his past and his present day behaviour.

The turning point for Terry were the sessions spent exploring how he felt about his dad not being there for him. Terry moved from a place of it making no difference, “How can I miss someone or be angry about someone I don’t really know,” to recognising that he was extremely angry and upset at his dad for abandoning him and his brother when they were children. Terry started to make the connections with his past and his anger. He became aware that his aggression and anger were his subconscious way of protecting himself; his behaviour kept others away and that meant they would not be able to reject him first.

This realisation was the first step to Terry acknowledging his feelings about his father, he began to understand why he behaved and responded in certain ways. As well as exploring Terry’s past, his counsellor went through anger management strategies with Terry so he had both emotional understanding and tools to use when counselling ended.

At the end of his counselling Terry was still living at his mother’s house, but he was seeing his son and partner daily. He and his partner agreed that it was too early to live together at this time because he needed more time to put into practice what he had learnt during his counselling. Terry’s partner also referred herself for counselling and went on to attend the Freedom programme facilitated by women’s aid.