2025-04-04-annual-report - Counselling All Nations Services

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Counselling All Nations Services (CANS) (A company limited by guarantee, not having a share capital) TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT

for the financial year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees present their Trustees' Annual Report, combining the Directors' Report and Trustees’ Report, and the unaudited financial statements for the financial year ended 31 March 2025.

The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

The Trustees’ Report contains the information required to be provided in the Trustees' Annual Report under the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) guidelines. The trustees of the charity are also charity trustees for the purpose of charity law and under the charity's constitution are known as members of the board of trustees.

In this report the trustees of Counselling All Nations Services (CANS) present a summary of its purpose, governance, activities, achievements and finances for the financial year 31 March 2025.

The charity is a registered charity and hence the report and results are presented in a form which complies with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and, although not obliged to comply with the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland FRS 102, the organisation has implemented its recommendations where relevant in these financial statements.

Mission, Objectives and Strategy

Mission Statement

Everyone in CANS is committed to our mission “to improve the mental health and quality of life of people from minoritised ethnic groups through talking therapy and other support” (strategic plan 2025-30).

Since our last AGM in November 2024 CANS has continued to grow thanks to our funders and the combined efforts of our staff, the board, and our counsellors. The board wishes to acknowledge the hard work of our staff, sessional staff and volunteers throughout the year.

This year everyone worked hard on our strategic plan 2025-30. We are grateful to Alison Keenan of EOS who led the board, staff, volunteers and partners through a process of deep thinking and analysis over several meetings and a residential stay at Corrymeela. We now have an ambitious and realistic Strategic Plan and with it a detailed Operational Plan to ensure we deliver and develop these essential services. A huge thank you must go to Alison for her expertise and patience and to everyone involved with CANS who gave their time and skills to this process.

Staff

Mr. Lekan Ojo-Okiji Abasi and Ms Jurita Naumane continue as Clinical Coordinator and Assistant Clinical Coordinator/counsellor respectively and are joined by part time administrative assistants Dasha Hanzharova and Victoria Mateova. Supported by Mrs Mac Mc Bride (Board, treasurer) and Mr. Paul Atherton (business and fundraising manager) the staff have worked hard to improve IT and financial office systems, essential as the volume of our work increases and we implement the detailed Operational Plan to ensure we deliver on our 5 year Strategic Plan.

Counsellors and therapists

The majority of our counsellors and therapists are bilingual and are from minority ethnic communities who live in Northern Ireland. We believe that this provides a unique insight into the experience of clients who need our services. They are all trained to work with professional interpreters who are an integral part of our team. Most are trained in EMDR and other psychological therapies e.g CBT. Our counsellors continue to deliver a professional, high quality service for people from the BAME community living in Northern Ireland with care, compassion and professionalism.

Thanks to funding from Children In Need we are delighted that CANS now offers psychological therapies to young people and families, ably led by Mrs Vivian Ogundipe with support from expert members on the Board (Dr Daniel Gboloo-Teye).

We are also indebted to everyone who has supported CANS in a voluntary capacity throughout the year.

Counselling All Nations Services (CANS) (A company limited by guarantee, not having a share capital) TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

for the financial year ended 31 March 2025

Fundraising and business management

We would like to thank Mr. Paul Atherton for his ongoing support of CANS and his expert advice in the role of fundraiser and business manager.

We now have a range of funding streams (see below and outlined in the accounts) allowing us to provide a more individualised service and to increase our referral pathways partnering with more community and voluntary sector organisations. We are indebted to all our funders and thank them for allowing us to grow and develop our work.

Board

The majority of the Board must come from a minoritised ethnic community.

Board membership: Dr Satish Kumar (Chair); Mrs Mac Mc Bride (Treasurer); Dr Linda Agnew (Secretary); Dr Daniel Gboloo-Teye; Mrs Angela Martin, Mrs Pashmina Kashif.

We are sorry that Dr Satish Kumar who joined the Board in 2018 and served as Chair from 2023 is stepping down as Chair. We congratulate Satish on his appointment as inaugural Dean of Queens University Belfast's new campus in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), India. We will miss him as he relocates to India.

Dr Linda Agnew stands down from the Board. She joined the Board in 2016 and has served as secretary since 2019.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Gift Sontonye-Frank, Mrs Maira Jahangir and Mr. Nouman Qadir as potential new members of the Board.

e Finance Committee: Mrs Mac Mc Bride, Dr Daniel Gboloo-Teye
e Social Media committee: Mrs Angela Martin, Mrs Pashmina Kashif. Thank you to this committee for our updated and much improved website and social media profile

Dr Daniel Gboloo-Teye provides supervision for the clinical coordinator.

We would like to thank all the Board members for freely giving their time and expertise.

Clinical Work

We are grateful to all our funders whose generosity supports our work:

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust: Tier 2 Talking Therapies £23,000 in this financial year

The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF): BAME Counselling Project £284, 168 over 3 years from Sep 2022. We are finalising an ‘end of grant’ report and have made it through to the final stages of a further application for £302,472 over 3 years.

Evaluation for Big Lottery

Thank you to Alison Keenan from EOS who undertook this evaluation: Summary: “Between September 2021 and March 2024, CANS provided support to 715 individuals. 58% of clients were female and 42% were male. Two thirds of clients were from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, and many of the remainder although not from a BAME background were not native English speakers. 94% of clients rated the counsellor / therapist's performance as very good or good”

Dormant Account (managed by TNLCF): £21,344 annually (560% of which we have received for this financial year) is for the part time Business Development role and some other costs. The funding runs to September 2025.

Henry Smith Trust: £40,000 over 2 years which pays for the Deputy Clinical Coordinator salary.

Grants: We have received £2,500 from a joint project with MindWise.

Children in Need: In June 2023 the Board, responding to a proposal from the clinical Coordinator and some counsellors agreed that there is recognised need for specialist work with BAME young people and their families. We are delighted that we have been successful in an application to CIN for £43,700 over 3 years for a pilot youth project.

Counselling All Nations Services (CANS) (A company limited by guarantee, not having a share capital) TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT for the financial year ended 31 March 2025

Premises

It was a wrench to move from the premises in the Chinese Welfare Association overlooking the river Lagan. CWA hosted us generously for many years and we are grateful for their support and partnership. Increased office space had become essential as our work increased and we appreciate the space and surroundings in the ArtsEkta Building in Olive Tree House in Belfast. In September everyone was invited to a Celebration Meal in Olive Tree House and we particularly appreciated the wonderful food provided by ArtsEkta Catering.

Financial and IT updates

Recognising the importance of digitalisation, CANS continued to develop our financial, clinical and office management IT systems. We are indebted to the finance committee, accountant, staff and everyone who continues to support these developments.

Thanks to the Social Media Committee who developed and continue to manage our website and social media platforms greatly in the past year.

CANS support for counsellors, staff and Board

The Board would like to pay tribute to the counsellors who work daily with clients.

Sadly, over the summer, racism which is so often unseen erupted into parades and violence which brought racism and Islamophobia into plain sight. This deeply affects the mental well being of our clients, staff, counsellors, interpreters and many Board members and their families.

We remain convinced that CANS provides much needed unique client centred service. Our Board and counsellors see the need for, and the difference CANS can make in their work and in their own communities.

As we look forward, we are excited by our thoughtful and important Strategic Plan. We have worked to build a strong Operational Plan and continue to embed the systems to enable us to grow this very important work.

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Financial Review

The results for the financial year are set out on page 9 and additional notes are provided showing income and expenditure in greater detail.

Financial Results

At the end of the financial year the charity has assets of £184,519 (2024 - £133,973) and liabilities of £27,346 (2024 - £18,436). The net assets of the charity have increased by £41,636.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 16 December 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

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MrsA Doreen Martin
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Trustee
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Mrs Immacula McBride
Trustee
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Counselling All Nations Services (CANS) (A company limited by guarantee, not having a share capital) STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

for the financial year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees, who are also directors of Counselling All Nations Services (CANS) for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the trustees as the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law) including FRS102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland". Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the net income or expenditure of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
m select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; aw make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent:
m state whether the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework, identify those standards, and note the effect and the reasons for any material departure from those standards; and
= prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the above requirements in preparing the financial statements.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 16 December 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Mrs LA Doreen Martin Trustee Ownake HL Mrs Immacula McBride Trustee