Relate Dorset And South Wiltshire Newsroom

About Us

Relate Dorset & South Wiltshire is a member of the Relate Federation and NFM (National Family Mediation). Our memberships give us access to centrally produced policies, procedures and expertise. We also receive support with the provision of training, clinical standards and advice.
The centre has been operating for over 50 years and we provide services to people living in Dorset, South Wiltshire and South Somerset. We are based in Poundbury, rent an office in the centre of Salisbury and operate outposts using rooms in hospitals, schools and other low cost venues.
Our culture and the way we operate is important to us. We like openness and honesty and we aim to ensure that our approach means that staff, volunteers, practitioners and trustees all feel part of the business and valued for what they do. We work well with other centres and have strong relationships with our key partners and stakeholders.
Our goal has always been to provide high quality services. As a member of the Relate Federation we must deliver Relates’ five core services which are:
1. Relationship counselling
2. Counselling children and young people
3. Sexual Therapy
4. Family Counselling
5. Education and Learning

We operate under the umbrella of “Relate” which is a well respected household name. This means that people often think of us first when they are experiencing relationship problems. It also means that many people think of us just for relationship issues and are unaware of the range of services we offer for example through our membership of NFM.
As well as the five core Relate services we also currently offer:

o Family mediation
o Therapeutic mediation
o Counselling for new parents
o Supportive workshops for parents
o Separated Parent Information Programme
o LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender)
o Supervised contact
o Volunteer programme and internships
We operate with a relatively small team over a dispersed area. Responsibility for the day to day management of the Centre lies with a paid Centre Manager who reports to the Board of Trustees. The Centre Manager is supported by a Services Manager and a team of administrative staff. We also have a book keeper, Conference Manager and 20 practitioners. Our counsellors are members of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Relate counsellors are required to have a high level of qualification.We are very good at delivering and administering services, at networking and business development. Our friendly and professional staff support local communities by offering a wide range of services. We are recognised for the level of service we provide to the LBGT (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender) community and for the positive way our service provision and image is received by LGBT people. The centre has a strong track record in service delivery and we have secured a number of high value contracts over the last two years. There has been growth within some services, development of others and we have been successful in securing funding from a variety of sources. We have done lots of work to raise our profile and increase awareness about what we do, we have refreshed the membership on our Board of Trustees and can now take advantage of a much broader range of skills and experience. Use of our conference facilities has increased; we have updated some of our IT systems and introduced new processes within our teams.

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