CARIS Islington

Welcome to the CARIS Islington Website

Caris Islington is a registered charity which runs two projects in Islington - a Bereavement Counselling Service for children and adults, and a cold weather night shelter for homeless people in Islington.

COVID 19 LOCKDOWN RESPONSE
This message explains our suggestions now that lockdown has been implemented. Messages can be left by phone on 020 7281 5200 and emails can be sent to [email protected] which are being picked up remotely each day.

ADULT BEREAVEMENT SERVICE
Our Adult Bereavement Counselling Service is open for existing clients and new referrals. Existing counselling sessions and booked assessments will continue by phone or internet/video link until further notice. Your Counsellor will contact you to discuss arrangements for counselling sessions. New referrals can be sent by email or you can phone us. You will be informed of any changes to these arrangements.

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE BEREAVEMENT SERVICE
The Children's and Young People's service is still open for referrals. Most of our counsellors are able to offer online working with the young people who have been referred. However this method of working is not appropriate for everyone and we are endeavouring to find alternative ways of supporting, particularly younger children. We have developed an online phone training for our counsellors. We are still discussing how we will do counselling with younger primary aged children. We are able to offer support for parents as well as teachers and other referrers if required.

COLD WEATHER SHELTER
It is with great regret that CARIS have come to the conclusion that we are unable to run the Cold Weather Shelter safely in our churches this winter. Other London boroughs have taken a similar decision, or have moved to a single fixed location, or are looking to implement alternative arrangements. We know many of you will share the same disappointment we feel over this decision.

However, in the context of Covid, the requirements necessary to keep guests and volunteers safe and socially distanced work against many of the strengths of our current Cold Weather Shelter model. Whilst we have explored a number of alternatives in depth, we do not currently have a single building available which would allow guests to have their own rooms and shower facilities. There are also risks with the alternating of large numbers of volunteers running the shelter.

We are now consulting with other bodies to explore different ways we can support those who find themselves homeless in Islington. We will keep you informed of any possibilities. We very much hope that the suspension of the Cold Weather Shelter this year is a one-off temporary necessity and that we can resume the Shelter programme in 2022.

Thank you all for your support of the Cold Weather Shelter scheme over the years. We very much hope we can work with you again in the near future.