A “lifesaving” west Fife counselling service may be forced to close if it cannot find £39,000 of funding.
Talk Matters chairman Tim Bennison revealed the service could “pretty much survive” until the end of the financial year but has already started winding down operations.
“We are not able to take anyone else on to our waiting list and there is a real question of whether we are able to offer counselling to those already on the list if we weren’t then able to complete that.”
Talk Matters has provided 156 adults and 80 children and young people with more than 3,100 counselling sessions over the past year alone.
It has a long waiting list, with 72 adults and 50 young people waiting to see a counsellor.
In addition, the charity provides a youth service, Headroom, across high schools and feeder primaries in Dunfermline, Inverkeithing and Cowdenbeath.
This element offers an option for younger people who need support.
It has been described by guidance staff as a Godsend which has “counselled students from the brink of suicide to a more hopeful future”.
The charity, with 40 qualified volunteers and a small management team, is grateful to Fife Council for support but its contribution of £36,000 per year is for core funding alone and does not cover all its costs.
Despite approaching a number of sources, Talk Matters has not been able to secure enough funding since last September.
If it does not find an additional £39,000 urgently it will have to close.
Dunfermline SNP councillor Neale Hanvey said: “I am very concerned about what will happen if further financial support is not forthcoming.
“For the invaluable support the Talk Matters service provides to the Dunfermline and west Fife community, the funding they require is insignificant in comparison to the cost that could be incurred if intervention is not provided.”
Mr Hanvey has written to Fife Council’s executive spokespersons for health, social work and education for help.
“The cost of allowing this service to fail is truly unimaginable and I am sorely disappointed that, to date, senior officers in social work do not seem to have engaged with NHS Fife to make this case robustly,” he added.
“Since I got involved with Talk Matters we have managed to raise some additional funds that will hopefully see them through to the end of the financial year.
“But after that, the service could close completely and the council/NHS and ultimately the tax payer will have to pick up the pieces, one way or the other.”
NHS Fife general manager Susan Manion said: “In conjunction with our colleagues at Fife Council we are talking to them about future options.”
Fiona McKay, team manager of Fife Council’s directorate management team and service support, said: “Social work adult services provide funding of £36,388 per annum to Talk Matters. The funding for this organisation has not been reduced by the social work service.
“The organisation has a service level agreement in place from April 2011 until March 31 2014.”