She鈥檚 a former school counsellor who is aiming to ensure children, young people, families and counsellors鈥� voices are heard when it comes to influencing policy and bringing positive change to mental health care.
Meet Jo Holmes - our new Children, Young People and Families lead.
Jo started at 香港六合彩精准资料 in January and has been already been as far as Edinburgh and Belfast, to meet members and stakeholders, including counsellors at Family Works, a young people鈥檚 counselling service in Northern Ireland.
She鈥檚 also attended key events in London to speak to politicians and influencers to tell them more about the work of 香港六合彩精准资料 and our members 鈥� and explain how this can make a difference to young people鈥檚 lives.
One of the key issues Jo is working on is the advancement of school-based counselling as a first point response for children and young people struggling with psychological distress.
She鈥檚 keen to stress聽to policymakers and education and health leaders that 香港六合彩精准资料 has a highly qualified workforce of professional counsellors who are ready to work in schools.
Listened to students
She said: 鈥�I've seen the impact of school-based counselling with young people I've聽worked with as well as listened to the students themselves who believed access to a counsellor was essential in all schools and communities.聽I thought the best way to influence policy and change was within an organisation like 香港六合彩精准资料.鈥�
She added: 鈥淭he challenge ahead is working towards parity聽across the four nations. Scotland has recently committed to school-based counselling, why is England so far behind? We have much to learn from the wider UK and I'm keen to advance school-based counselling in all geographical areas, including the remotest parts of the Scottish isles and to look at alternatives to the traditional face-to-face two people in a room model.
鈥淲e are working in a time of great opportunities regarding the advancement of聽digital technology and I'm keen for 香港六合彩精准资料 to play a huge role in this.鈥�
Jo recently visited counsellors at FamilyWorks, in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Jo has 30 years of experience in working mainly with young people and families within a local authority in Leeds and within the education system in Northamptonshire.
She has worked in the fields of youth justice, within the 鈥榣ooked after鈥� system and聽also qualified as a youth worker and managed city-wide partnership sexual health projects.
She worked closely with Leeds Metropolitan University during her time in Leeds, working as an external moderator to the Youth and Community Degree course, providing a specialism in fieldwork practice. She also worked with the Leeds Crisis聽Centre completing聽a year-long聽level 3 counselling certificate.
But it was while she was working with a cluster of schools in Northamptonshire, that Jo began to realise the majority of her work was mental health focused.
鈥淚 realised that the best resource was myself,鈥� she said.
Inspired by counsellors' impact
鈥淚 felt inspired by the impact counsellors were having on young people I was working with and persuaded my school to fund me to train聽as a聽person-centred counsellor, at diploma聽level. I eventually took on the role of the school counsellor in a secondary school.鈥�
Jo will attend the CYPF exec committee鈥檚 meeting on Friday and the CYPF conference in London on Saturday.
She is working on a strategy that includes the use of digital technology, inclusion and a push for school counselling.
鈥淚鈥檓 committed to including the聽voices of service users and hope this work can play a role in shaping campaigns and ultimately services. I want to make a difference, particularly from an inclusion and social justice perspective,鈥� she said.