A Bath-based mental health charity has announced that it will be closing in March as it cannot afford to keep its doors open.
Trauma Breakthrough will no longer be able to provide free, specialist counselling and therapy to survivors of trauma and abuse.
The charity, which was started in 2013, helped over 900 people last year across Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire and other parts of the South West.
The charity’s trustees have now made the difficult decision to close the charity due to a lack of funding.
The charity’s founder Giles Lascelle said: “Since 2020 we have seen a 2000% increase in demand.
“Over half the people who need our help have been referred by NHS mental health services and GP surgeries, but we get absolutely no funding from the NHS or Local Government.
“At the same time, many other funding bodies are closing their programmes or changing the types of things that they will support. It’s a huge problem across the entire charity sector.
“Most of the people who come to us have very complex mental health needs.
“Often, they have been referred to mental health services or have presented at Accident and Emergency Departments many times, and typically they have been trying to get suitable help for years or even decades without success.
“I am very concerned that many people will just fall through the gaps in current mental health provision.
“We are doing everything we can to identify alternative sources of support, but there is almost nothing out there.
“I am heartbroken for our service-users, and for our amazing and dedicated staff team.”
