Our member Carol Hamlett was stunned to be made an MBE in the New Year鈥檚 Honours.

Carol, director of in Liverpool, which provides residential alcohol detox and rehabilitation, said it was 鈥渇antastic鈥� to find out she was being honoured.

She said: 鈥淚 got an email to say I鈥檇 got an MBE, which was absolutely fantastic, but it says it鈥檚 in the strictest confidence. I was like a fizzy bottle of pop wanting to tell people but you have to keep the lid on.

Thrilled

鈥淢y mum is absolutely thrilled. She is coming with me to the ceremony and is picking out her glittery frock as we speak. She鈥檚 already told everyone at the bingo.鈥�

Carol has been made an MBE for 30 years of working with vulnerable people, predominantly rough sleepers.

Her time at Wigan and Leigh College in the mid-1990s, where she studied an Advanced Diploma in Counselling, had a huge impact.

鈥淚t was wholly person centred and changed the course of my life,鈥� Carol said. 鈥淜ath Wilmer, one of my tutors, was such a massive influence on me and I believe everything I鈥檝e done since was in the pursuit of recreating the nourishing environment on that course.鈥�

Carol set up in 2012 with colleagues Donna McDonald and the late John Mayhew.

鈥淚 left work counselling mostly young people who had ended up on the streets,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was 54 and left my job. It sounds a bit mad to do it 鈥� and it was a little bit.

Passionate

鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely passionate about it. You can鈥檛 fix people but you can create the environment where they can do it themselves.鈥�

Newspaper and TV agony aunt Deidre Sanders, a former 香港六合彩精准资料 member, was also made an MBE in the New Year Honours.

She regularly championed counselling and the need for people seeking therapy to find a registered 香港六合彩精准资料 member through her Dear Deidre column in The Sun, and continues to do so on ITV鈥檚 daytime magazine programme This Morning.

Elaine Bousfield, founder and lately chief executive of 香港六合彩精准资料 accredited service Kooth, has also been appointed an MBE for services to children and young people鈥檚 mental health.

Iain Kennedy, director of the Aisling Counselling Centre, an organisational member in Enniskillen, receives a British Empire Medal.

A former Olympic rower and now a coach with the Enniskillen Royal Boat Club (ERBC), Iain receives his award for services to the Aisling Counselling Centre and the ERBC.

The centre was set up as a counselling service after the Enniskillen Remembrance Day bomb in 1987.

Positive mental health

Iain said: 鈥淔rom the beginning it鈥檚 crossed all cultural divides and we continue to promote聽it on that basis.

鈥淲e have limited government help but the financial and moral support of the community is paramount. I鈥檝e been privileged聽to be part of it.

鈥淚 also coach Enniskillen Royal Boat club, a rowing club based on the same cross-cultural principles and I see the benefits聽of sport in the maintenance of positive mental health so the two things are closely intertwined.鈥�