Camden, City, Islington and Westminster Bereavement Service (CCIWBS) was founded 50 years ago, in 1969.
This is a major milestone for us, representing our long term and continuing commitment to providing accessible, quality, bereavement and loss counselling to the communities in north and central London in which we live and work.
Over that time hundreds of thousands of hours of counselling have been delivered, to tens of thousands of people - the overwhelming majority completely free of charge. We know from our feedback and outcome monitoring that a majority of clients report moving into recovery. We are very proud of this record.
These services have been delivered by thousands of volunteer counsellors and the charity wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to those who have given their time, and to our funders and partners who help to make this possible.
As public attitudes to and awareness of mental health issues have undergone a very welcome change in recent years, demand for our services have continued to rise, year on year. CCIWBS has expanded, it has secured its own premises, broadened its funding base and changed its services to meet rising and changing demand. This is not without its challenges but the charity has a more sound financial position than a few years ago and we are committed to continuing to change and adapt our services to meet the needs of our clients over the next fifty years.
Laura Noel, Chair of Trustees