Off the Record (OTR) Youth Counselling is a
mental health charity working across the London Boroughs of
Croydon,
Merton and
Sutton which provides a range of free support services for young people. It celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019.
Founded in Croydon in 1994 to provide free, independent and professional
counselling for 14 – 25-year-olds, the charity expanded over the years to include further areas of work including mental health work in BME communities; a
young carers service; a specialist counselling service for young refugees,
online counselling, workshops and mental health support in schools.
Since 2019, Off The Record's counselling service in Merton operates in
Vestry Hall.
Memberships
Off the Record is a member of Youth Access, the national membership organisation for youth information, advice and counselling services (YIACS), and is a
BACP-accredited service.
Funding
Off The Record is supported by Croydon, Sutton & Merton local authorities and local
Clinical Commissioning Groups as well as a range of charitable funders including
Comic Relief and the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
Foundation. At the
2021 Wimbledon Championships
The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to cla ...
, Off the Record were selected to perform the coin toss for the Men's Singles Finals.
In 2018,
Travis Perkins marked the opening of a new branch in Beddington Lane, Croydon by donating £250 to Off the Record.
Partnerships
In 2021, Off the Record launched a project with
London Southbank University
London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...
(LSBU) and the Croydon BME Forum to train London barbershops to test blood pressure in a UK-first project.
Awards
In 2019, Off The Record was one of ten charities selected from more than 370 organisations across the UK to win a
GSK IMPACT Award for outstanding contributions to improving the UK's health and wellbeing.
The award is run in partnership with
The King's Fund
The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events.
Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. T ...
.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website"Off the Record" Youth Counselling Croydon, registered charity no.1051144. Charity Commission for England and Wales.
Mental health in England
Health charities in England
Organisations based in London
1994 establishments in England
Mental health organisations in the United Kingdom
Counseling organizations