1 Counselling and Support Services Southend Annual Report 2023 - 2024 2 ## Counselling and Support Services Southend Annual Review Contents |Secton

Introducton and acknowledgements
Objects, Aims, Objectves, Values
Who’s Who at CASSS
Chair of Trustees Report
Nominated Therapeutc Services Coordinator’s Report
Partnership Working and Promotng Community Talking Therapies
Financial Summary Balance Sheet
Financial Report
Future Plans
Thanks to|Page
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13 - 14| |---|---| Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 3 ## Introducton and Acknowledgments Welcome to the latest Counselling and Support Services Southend Annual Report, for the years 2023 to 2024. The report presents various information on how the charity has progressed, over the last year. It aims to highlight some of the successes and challenges experienced by the charity. It also sets out some future aims for the charity. The report discusses progress for the financial years, 2022-2023 and 2023-24. It firstly sets out the charity’s objects stated on its constitution, along with its aims, organisational objectives and values and who is involved in its running. There is a breakdown of who contributes to the charity and in what role. The Nominated Therapeutic Services Coordinator Report goes into more detail, regarding the work completed over the year. There is a Financial Report and summary of the Finances, for the last financial year, with comparison to the previous year. Finally, there is a summary of plans for the next year and thanks to various local agencies. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all the trustees and volunteers who have continued to provide their time and skills, to keep the charity running. I would also like to thank all the organisations who have continued to attend our activities and support CASSS. We hope you find this document to be useful and informative. If you have any questions, please contact us on info@casss.co.uk. Nick Chard Nominated Therapeutic Services Coordinator Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 4 ## Objects, Aims, Objectves, Values ## Charitable Objectve Counselling and Support Services Southend is a Registered Charity, number 1184892. Its charitable objective as stated on the charity’s constitution is to: 1. For the public benefit the promotion and protection of good mental health of people living in Essex in particular but not exclusively through improving and developing the delivery of mental health services by: • Training mental health professionals and counsellors by providing or assisting in the provision of workshops, conferences and accredited courses. • Promoting communication, collaboration and networking within the sector between therapy organisations, voluntary groups and statutory bodies to promote a coordinated response to local service strategies. 2. To relieve the needs of people in Essex experiencing mental illness by raising general awareness and understanding in the community about mental health wellbeing and mental health treatments and services to reduce stigma, discrimination and social isolation.’ ## Main Aims To achieve the above objectives CASSS aims to: - improve communication within and between the counselling sector and related - services, its partners and service users. • improve Continuing Professional Development opportunities, for counsellors and workers providing similar support. • improve the quality and range of counselling provision and related services and encourage collaborative working between agencies, in Essex. Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 5 ## Organisatonal Objectves The objectives of Counselling and Support Services Southend are to: - Develop a secure funding and income generation base from which to develop a sustainable and high-quality service, for agencies and the public. - Ensure our services are delivered to a consistently high quality, which meets the targets set by funders and the needs of agencies and the public, within the diverse communities of Southend and surrounding areas. - Continue develop the board of trustees and volunteers for recruitment and training, to build a team best placed to deliver our services. - Continue develop and assess the range of support the charity provides, to ensure it continues to evolve and develop in line with changing needs of the community’s mental health. - Identify and understand the needs, concerns and mental health problems of the community, by annual consultation and ongoing contact with clients, organisations, individual practitioners and relevant local organisations. ## Our Values Accessible : Work to ensure counselling and associated therapies are accessible to the community, regardless of an individual’s financial situation, age, gender or ethnicity. Partnership : we will work in partnership with other agencies, to ensure that services are connected to meet the full range of client needs. Communicaton and Networking : To improve communication within the sector, and between the sector and the public and statutory services. Equality, Independent and Impartal : To work equally with all individuals, professionals, partners and stakeholders, without prioritising any person, agency or professional above others. High Standards : To work with partners and stakeholders to achieve high standards of delivery, in the sector. Responsive : To be responsive and receptive to the needs of the sector and public. Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 6 ## Who’s Who at Counselling and Support Services Southend ## Board of Trustees Angela Dress - Chair Karen Sutton - Secretary Donna Kilday – Treasurer Lauren Draycott ## Senior Management Team Nick Chard - Nominated Therapeutic Services Coordinator ## Volunteer Rebekka Chambers Ward – Network meetings minute taker Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 7 ## Chair of Trustees Report This year has seen us grow our trustee numbers by 2 with new trustees Elena and Dan. They come to us with a wealth of experience in the counselling sector and who will make a great contribution to the running of the charity. We’ve continued to work on positioning CASSS as a trusted source of knowledge amongst its peers. We have participated in the usual public events with stalls at both the Mental Health Awareness Week in May and the Feelgood Festival which took place at Garon’s Park, in July. Plans are to do the same next year. We plan to use some funds to purchase some CASSS merchandise for further promotional purposes at future events. With regard to CPD, we ran a Talking Therapy Training Session at Garon’s Park in November 2023. We are looking at ways in which we could bring some attention amongst our peers of equine therapy. Our website is in the process of being updated and we will devote the next Trustee meeting in January 2025 to a review of the new site. This is with a view to having it go live, as soon as we can. Funding applications are in the pipeline to see if we can start to pay our hard-working CoOrdinator a salary for all the work he does. This is as well as to pay our student minute taker at the network meetings and see if we can fund our merchandise plans, with an external grant. All in all, another good year for CASSS, with some innovative plans for the future! Angela Dress. Chairperson. Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 8 ## Nominated Therapeutc Services Coordinator Report The period covering 2023 and 2024 covers a long period with events coming back to normal from the pandemic, so activities now run pretty much as before. However, this issue was merely taken over by the cost of living crisis and other world events. So demand for talking therapies was just as high if not higher, in the community. Network meetings continued to be organised, in May 2023 and 2024. The alternating format of virtual and face to face meetings was kept, to allow more agencies to attend. There has been a slow shift to more agencies attending virtually, to face to face. It is possible future meeting will only be going virtual. However this decision will first be discussed with the network, to see what they prefer. The public mental health events were continued to be run at The Victoria Shopping Centre, in Southend. This event was a great success, on both occasions. This event is a highly important opportunity for services to connect to possible clients and offer greatly needed support. It must be noted that careful consideration needs to be taken, in where stalls are set up in the centre. Experience has shown that stalls located on the top floor where the walkway is narrowest, gives agencies the best chance to connect to the public. As well as CASSS organising its own event, it also attended the Wellbeing Festival at Garon’s Park in the summer. This again gave CASSS the chance to connect to the public and advise on talking therapies and signpost to relevant agencies. Monthly newsletters continued to be produced and sent out to the network and other organisations. These continue to be published every 2 months, to allow for more information to build up and make it more worthwhile. Other information was forwarded on a regular basis, regarding other updates relevant to the sector. Other activities involve CASSS taking enquiries from members of the public, about how best to access counselling support. We have provided them with independent and impartial advice, about what agency is best to support them. We have also eg advised student counsellors where to access student placements, by advising them based upon our contacts and networks. This shows that CASSS provides a unique role in helping the counselling and therapy sector run effectively and supports the community to Improve their mental health. In 2023, CASSS ran some CPD for agencies on outdoor therapy. This has led an agency in the network to set up their own walking talking therapy activity. Financially, CASSS has continued to increase its savings, due to minimal spending of services delivered. We received funding to have the website redesigned and have regular Facebook postings. The redesign is ongoing and the website will look to be published, in 2025. Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 9 In summary the period in question involved CASSS continuing to support the public to engage with appropriate services and therapy agencies offer support. ## Partnership Working and Promotng Community Talking Therapies CASSS has links to a broad number of organisations, in and around Southend. Some are counselling and therapy organisations; others are more broadly related to the therapy sector. Agencies who have attended the Network meetings or contributed to CASSS’s output in the last 2 years include: Havens Hospices Relate London North East and Essex Southend Carers Victoria Counselling and Training Services South Essex College Netpark Wellbeing Project Olive Tree Centre Abacus Counselling and Support ASC Wellbeing Clinic Atrium Clinic and Therapy Centre NHS Therapy for You Therapy for Life Counselling on Sea Liberty Talking Therapy South East and Central Essex Mind Healthwatch Essex Southend on sea Rape Crisis Step Out Essex The Peaceful Pony Ky Harkins Counselling Version 4 Update on November 2025 Charity No 1184892 10 ## Financial Summary Balance Sheet Below are summaries of finances for April 2022 to March 2023 and April 2023 to March 2024, as comparison. |024, as comparison.|||| |---|---|---|---| |022-23
Total Income
Expenditure
Salaries
Parking
Volunteers Expenses
Trustees Expenses
Freelance/tutors
Tel, Internet, Fax
Parking - Mileage
Light/heat/utilities
Refreshments
Photocopying
Publicity - Marketing
Venue hire
Insurance
Office supplies
Total Expenditure
Surplus/Deficit
Total Funds|2,233.17
2.00
1,020.00
292.09
28.16
12.33
253.16
218.37
15.69
1,841.80
391.37
2,991.25
Total Income
Expenditure
Salaries
Parking
Volunteers Expenses
Trustees Expenses
Freelance/tutors
Tel, Internet, Fax
Mileage
Light/heat/utilities
Refreshments
Photocopying
Publicity - Marketing
Venue hire
Insurance
Office supplies
Total Expenditure
Surplus/Deficit
Total Funds||8,164.99| ||||| ||||| ||||9.00| ||||| ||||| ||||1,550.00| ||||659.90| ||||47.04| ||||| ||||48.50| ||||| ||||2,025.00| ||||183.00| ||||287.34| ||||| ||||| ||||4,809.78| ||||| ||||3,355.21| ||||| ||||3,355.21| ## 2022-23 2023-24 Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 11 ## Financial Report Financial Report for the Financial Year 2023-24. Donna Kilday (Treasurer) and Nick Chard (Nominated Therapeutic Services Coordinator) are now using the new bank account with Natwest Bankline Business Account. This means that Donna Kilday and Angela Dress (Chair) are able to approve payments through internet banking rather than visiting a branch in person. CASSS arranged walk and Talk Therapy CPD for counsellors, by Creative Counsellors, which helped to raise further income for the charity, whilst keeping the CPD cost effective for attendees. This took place at Garon’s in October 2023, and was advertised through CASSS and Eventbrite. The main income in the account (over £3000) was unrestricted funding, from donations. This meant the money did not have any restrictions or conditions placed upon it, regards when or how it is spent. We also received a grant from Leigh Town Council, which was used to pay for the room hire network meetings and the AGM last year. Nick Chard applied to the Inter Church Caring Trust (ICCT), for funding to pay for increased marketing and a new website. The bid was successful, and the £2000 funding was used to get someone to run the social media and the charities online presence. CASSS has its finances examined by Dave Robb, who is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators and an Affiliate Member of the Association of the Charity Independent Examiners. We thank Dave for completing our accounts, in a timely and professional manner. Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 12 ## Future Plans The aims for 2024-2025 are: - Continue mental health events, helping therapy agencies to connect to the public. - Attend other Mental Health Events run by other agencies, to raise the profile of CASSS with the public, gather feedback on local services and advise on services available. - Recruit more volunteers and trustees, to be able to run the above activities and develop the team. - Update and publish the Best Practise guidance, previously developed. - Obtain funding to market and promote the new website, to raise the profile of CASSS and members of the network. - Obtain funding to pay workers for their time. - Set up a savings account, to build reserve funds. Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 13 ## Thanks to: OACS Counselling Version 4 Update on November 2025 Charity No 1184892 14 Update on November 2025 Version 4 Charity No 1184892 Counselling and Support Services Southend FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 Counselling and Support Services Southend CONTENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 Page Legal and Administrative Information Recelpts and Payments Account Assets and LlabS1ities Account Notes to the Financial Statements Independent Examiner's Report Counselling and Support Services Southend LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 Trustees: Angela Dress Donna Kilday Karen Sutton Lauren Draycott IAppolnted 091111211 IAppointed 171111221 IAppolnted 09iiinii IAppolnted 23111D31 Reg15tered Charlty Number: 1184892 Re8lslered Offl¢e: 135 Norwlch Avenue Southend on sea $52 4DH Independent Examlner: David Andrew Robb Assoclate of the Chartered Governance Instltute Affiliate of the Association of Charlty Independent Examlners Banker: National Westmlnster Bank plc 250 Blshopsgate London EC2M 4AA Page I Counselling and Support Services Southend RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 Notes Unrestrl¢ted Restrlcted Funds Funds 2024 2024 Total Funds 2024 Total Funds 2023 Receipts Donations and Gifts Grants Receivable 3,038.38 3,038.38 2,000.00 135.36 0.00 0.00 5.173.74 2,233.17 2,rA)o.00 Other income Client session fee5 Interest Received Total Recelpts 135.36 3,173.74 2,000.00 2,233.17 Payments Fundraising Activitie5 Session and Charitable Activities Costs Governance Costs Total Payments 2,779.78 1.980.00 50.00 2,829.78 1,980.00 4,759.78 50.00 4,809.78 1,791.80 50.00 1,841.80 Net RecelptsllPaymentsl 343.96 20.00 363.96 391.20 Net Recelptsllpaymentsl after Transfers 343.96 20.00 363.96 391.20 Unrestrlcted RestrScted Funds Funds Total Funds Cash Funds at 31st March Z024 3,335.21 20.00 3,355.21 Cash Funds at 31st March 2023 2,991.25 0.00 2,991.25 Note5 on pages 4 to 6 form part of these accounts Pa8e 2 Counselling and Support Services Southend ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 Notes 2024 2023 Monetary Assets Cash at Bank and in Hand 3,355.21 3,355.21 2,991.25 2,991.25 Represented by Funds Restricted Restricted 20.00 0.00 3,335.21 3,355.21 Unrestricted Funds 2,991.25 2,991.25 The accounts were approved by the Trustee5 and signed on their behalf by: 518ned: Name: J￿A Thé55 Date: i&JILl£k An8ela Dress- Chalr of Coun5elling and Support Servlces 5outhend Page 3 Counselling and Support Services Southend NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 l. Ba515 of Preparatlon These accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis, following best practice as laid down in the Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities" ISORP 20051 issued in October 2005, with all revenue and expenses shown on a cash basis. 2. Independent Examlnatlon The cost of the Independent Examination was 3. Bank Accounts 2024 2023 Natwest current account Barclays current account Dèposlt account 3,355.21 2,991.25 3,355.21 2,991.25 4. Llonatlons and Glfts Unrestri¢ted Restricted Funds Funds 2024 2024 Total Funds 2024 Total Funds 2023 Michael Chard HMRC gift aid Donations below £250 Inter Church Caring Trust 2,000.00 1,038.38 135.36 2,000.￿ 2,(￿￿.00 1,038.38 0.00 135.36 233.17 2,000.(K) 5,173.74 2,000.00 3,173.74 2,000.00 2,233.17 Page 4 Counselling and Support Services Southend NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 5. Grants Recelvable Unrestrltted Restrlcted Funds Funds 2024 2024 Total Funds 2024 Total Funds 2023 Inter Church Caring Trust Credit 2,000.00 2,000.00 0.00 0.00 2,000.00 0.00 2,000.00 0.00 6. Se55ion and Charitable Activities Cost Unrestrl¢ted Restrlcted Funds Fund5 2024 2024 Total Funds 2024 Total Fund5 2023 CPD/training Telephone Internet Expenses mileage Refreshments Publi¢lty/marketlng Officeloverheads Venue hire Insurance 1,500.00 659.90 56.04 48.50 45.00 1,980.00 1,500.110 659.90 56.04 48.50 2,025.00 0.00 183.00 287.34 4.759.78 970.00 292.09 30.16 12.33 15.69 253.16 218.37 1.791.80 183.00 287.34 2,779.78 1.980.00 Page 5 Counselling and Support Services Southend NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024 7. Governance Costs Unrestrl¢ted Restylcted Funds Funds 2024 2024 Total Funds 2024 Total Funds 2023 Independent Examination 50.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 50.00 50.00 50.00 0.00 50.00 8. Trustees, Remuneratlon Theie was no trustee remuneration paid by the charity Page 6