Treating each person as an individual rather than a client number or ID is fundamental to Is Anyone There. Our intentions are purely and simply to help people in need. This can only be achieved through sympathy and empathy.

A counselling service is primarily a listening and guidance or support service for vulnerable people. Sometimes challenges become burdensome and seeing the wood from the trees is impossible. We can become consumed by our problems if we don’t receive help.

Is Anyone There service is not merely a case of listening to a person and making suggestions; rather it involves understanding, sympathising and offering adequate support.

Adequate or appropriate support means to really take time to understand the individual: where they are coming from, where they have reached and where they want to be. Identifying the variables along the way will build a truer picture of who the individual is and the impact that the experience has had upon his/her quality of life and well-being.

Our counsellors and Imams at Is Anyone There will already be trained with the techniques required to perform counselling. Each counsellor or Imam must be able to recognise the type of support that is needed. For example, what suits one person does not necessarily suit another.

The Is Anyone There service is two-fold: emotional and psychological, and spiritual. The spiritual aspect will be delivered by Imams. The client will select the type of counselling that they wish to receive. Spiritual guidance will use counselling techniques to focus on spiritual development; to give strength to the client to accept the situation and to make positive changes.

Emotional and spiritual counselling will depend on circumstance and the differing needs of the clients. There will be times when the Imam will refer a client to the counsellor and there will be other times where the counsellor will refer the client to the Imam. Again, this will be appropriate to the client’s needs.