‘Canon Taylor offered the premises and upon viewing them, we knew they would be suitable,’ said Liz Lloyd, Caring Officer for the Bloxwich LIFE Care Centre.
‘This is the first LIFE Help Station in the country.’
‘To run as a Care Centre we would only be open two days a week for Counselling and Skilled Listening, but these premises are big enough to do so much more, including offering Relationship counselling.’
‘On other days we shall have the help of a Specialist Team from our Headquarters in Leamington’, she added.
‘We feel that we can be beneficial to the area by working with other help agencies/organisations and also promoting social integration through the work of LIFE’ added Liz, who is responsible for overseeing the development of the new Station. Trustee and Founder Member of LIFE, Nuala Scarisbrick is very excited about this latest phase in LIFE’s work.
‘We are very excited as Walsall LIFE has worked very hard over the last 10 years to help 1000’s of women and families, and now the Walsall group is pioneering a new style of LIFE Help Centre which increases the amount of help they can give.’
From the new centre, LIFE’s education work in Walsall is being organised, with a comprehensive display of LIFE literature available as a useful resource bank for students from Primary Schools up to and including University level.
There will be a Housing Advice Service linked to the Walsall LIFE house where pregnant girls are looked after. A lot of young mothers need baby equipment and clothing. The LIFE Station will help with that - something we are often asked by Social Services to provide support with.
The normal LIFE counselling service, which helps people - women or men - who want to discuss whether to continue the pregnancy will take place at the LIFE station. All our counsellors are fully trained and qualified, and help people to come to a decision that is appropriate for them. LIFE provides practical help during the pregnancy and after birth as long as needed.’
A particular feature of the Help Station - and another aspect of LIFE counselling work - is that it will help women and men who have had, or have been through the abortion experience, sometimes involving long-term counselling.
We will be providing a truly multicultural service, and hope that people of all faiths and none will drop in and say ‘Hello’. This will be a drop-in centre for anyone who wants to come in and discuss life issues, said Nuala.
‘Developing its work in schools, the Education Team at LIFE will seek to inform students on the rights and dignity of all humans from conception to natural end and empower them to make decisions in their lives that will reflect this truth.’ LIFE Midlands Education Officer Elly Petrutti told Catholic Today.
The centre also provides guidance for couples finding difficulty conceiving.
Anyone wanting to contact us can telephone our National Helpline on Freephone 0800 915 4600, or contact the Walsall Help Station on 01922 611255/712046 or ‘text2talk’ by sending a text message to 07786 20033
