Off the Record (OTR) Youth Counselling Croydon was founded in 1994 to provide free, independent and professional counselling for 14 – 25 year olds in the Croydon area. Since then the charity has expanded to include further areas of work including mental health support in schools, BME mental health work; a young carers service offering support to young people under 26 who are caring for a parent or sibling; a specialist counselling service for young refugees; online counselling and workshops; and our young people's counselling service in the boroughs of Sutton and Merton.

We believe that you:

• Have a right to be respected and valued whoever you are.

• Have a right to make choices and decisions about your own life.

• Have the potential to live a vibrant and fulfilling life.

You can expect us to:

• Keep things private and respect your confidentiality.

• Listen to you in a way that is helpful and supportive.

• Work hard to earn your trust rather than expect it.

• Respect and understand your wishes and beliefs.

• Be clear, honest and friendly.

• Give you as much choice as we can.

• Actively work together with you, rather than telling you how it is.

• Support and challenge you to be the best that you can be.

We’re committed to making our services fully accessible to everyone and that means taking serious steps to remove barriers and reach out to those who might find it harder to make contact with us. Please see below for how we will address limits of accessibility to ensure our services are accessible to all young people.

A strategy for addressing accessibility limitations

Off the Record is an organisational member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and adheres to their Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. The counselling offered by Off the Record adheres to a Humanistic model, and includes Person Centred, Cognitive Behavioural, Psychodynamic, Existential and other humanistic approaches.