Graduate launches counselling service
A Stirling graduate with cerebral palsy has set up his own charity to help young people with disabilities reach their potential.
Josh Hepple, 28, established counselling charity TalkTime Scotland to celebrate his graduation from Stirling University.
Edinburgh-based TalkTime provides free counselling by either video-link or telephone with qualified professionals.
It’s for people aged 12 to 25 living in Scotland who are physically disabled or have long-term health conditions .
They currently have six clients and counselling is often on a long-term basis, with some clients having been with TalkTime for six months.
Josh graduated from Stirling in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in law, and is now undertaking a PhD in international human rights law at Middlesex University.
His mum, Seonaid Cooke ,58, is the director of TalkTime and says that setting up the charity was a “special event”for the family as they had never thought that Josh would go to university due to the serverity of his disability.
Seonaid said:“Josh struggled to fit in at a mainstream secondary school in Edinburgh and said he would have really benefited from the support of an independent counsellor but sadly nothing like our service was available.”
She added:“Counselling has only recently started to come into schools, and typically the person that you would go to would be your guidance teacher. But this is pastoral care, and they are not trained professionally.
“We try to work with the needs of our clients and build up a strong personal relationship, so we don’t have any set rules as such.
For more information on TalkTime, visit their website at http://www. talktimescotland.co.uk/ index