Sarah Agnes Foundation

Launched in 2015 in response to a lack of affordable counselling services, SAF is on a mission to ensure that people living in poverty and deprivation are given equal access to therapeutic support. By working both individually and in the heart of communities, SAF aims to remove barriers faced when accessing counselling and psychotherapy. The Sarah Agnes Foundation (SAF) provides pay-as-you-can counselling and psychotherapy services to individuals, couples, families, and children both virtually and in person. As a BACP Accredited Service, SAF demonstrates the highest standard of ethics and professionalism in its work.  Working with universities, colleges, and community partners, SAF has created a network of qualified therapists and professionally supervised placement therapists to work across communities that are affected by higher levels of deprivation and poverty. This model provides a sustainable workforce whilst achieving a wider impact.  The team at SAF are passionate about removing barriers to its services which is why there are a number of pathways to accessing support. Professional and self-referrals are the most common way for people to access services and referrals for specialist services, such as family and child therapy, can be accessed through social services and school partners.  For some, the stigma of therapy alone can be the biggest barrier to starting therapy. SAF addresses this by providing wellbeing workshops targeted at specific issues to enable individuals to use as a standalone service, or a gateway to therapy.  As child and adolescent mental health issues have risen dramatically in the UK, schools in disadvantaged areas are often left struggling to provide pastoral and therapeutic support to students due to staffing or budgeting issues. SAF works with schools by providing visiting therapists to deliver workshops, assemblies, or individual sessions with students.  All the team at SAF are professionally supervised by an experienced and BACP Accredited Supervisor working in-house. This ensures that all its operations, ethics, and values meet the highest level of standards in the UK.