PRESS RELEASE: South London Charity Off the Record Celebrates Founder's Legacy

19th September 2024 Off the Record Youth Counselling, a charity that provides free and confidential counselling services to young people in South London, has been celebrating its founder Karen Stott as she retired from the charity she founded.  

Karen’s retirement marks a pivotal point in the history of Off The Record. As the founder of the Charity, Karen established the core values of compassion and high-quality mental health interventions and has driven Off The Record’s mission across the last thirty years of supporting children and young people’s mental health in Croydon (from 1994) and latterly in Sutton (services launched in 2013) and Merton (from 2017). 

A counsellor herself, Karen has been the Director of Off the Record since starting the charity in 1994, in a tiny basement rented office in Croydon, which is just a few hundred yards from their new Portland House hub in Croydon.  Karen has overseen the expansion of the charity from a counselling-specific service in one borough with 3 staff, to a multi-faceted community-based mental health provision working across three South West London boroughs and employing almost 70 staff.

The charity has since grown to reach more young people in need of vital services. Over the years, the charity has evolved and innovated by listening to the needs of local young people. Some key milestones include:

• 1997 - The launch of the BME Mental Health Outreach.
• 2000 - Young Persons Drug & Alcohol Services started at Off the Record.
• 2008 - Pilot Refugee counselling services established.
• 2013 - Initial launch of the online counselling platform - one of the first services in the UK. This ensured that the charity was able to respond swiftly during the pandemic as all services pivoted online.
• 2013 - Off the Record Sutton starts.
• 2017 - Pilot Off the Record Merton begins.

Karen Stott said: “I've reflected a lot on Off the Record’s remarkable history in these last few months and I often still find it hard to believe how the charity has grown and developed over that time. Thirty years have been built around dozens of Trustees and volunteers; hundreds of committed staff and many thousands of young people who have trusted us at the most vulnerable points in their lives.”

Geoff Jones CEO, Off the Record said: “Many of the children that Karen counselled 30 years ago will now be raising children of their own. Karen has established the DNA of Off the record - that every child and young person is important and that with timely mental health interventions including empathy and respect young people can successfully navigate the challenges of adolescence go on to establish successful and healthy lives.”

The charity will continue to build upon this valuable foundation and will ensure that in the coming years young people living in Croydon, Sutton and Merton can expect to continue to receive free high quality mental health support at the point of need.

Geoff continues: “Karen is ‘handing the baton’ over to us and our vision is to build a strong compassionate and inclusive mental health community that responds with agility to the new modern challenges facing young people including the current young people’s mental health crisis following the Covid pandemic, serious youth violence, cost of living pressures as well as the pressures of AI and social media.”

 “We are indebted to Karen for the legacy that she has left us at Off the Record and will do our very best to grow and honour that at every opportunity,” Geoff Jones.

The charity celebrated Karen's retirement with staff and partners who have all played a key role in their dedication to building a compassionate mental health community for children and young people.  

Ken Wong, CAMHS Tier 2 & Wellbeing Services, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, says: “Karen’s dedication and passion for providing high-quality care for young people have always been truly inspiring. A driven and focused leader, she has consistently demonstrated great integrity throughout her career. Her retirement marks the end of an era, but the legacy she leaves behind at Off the Record will continue to positively impact countless young lives for years to come.”

Later this year, Off the Record will be celebrating the start of its 30th anniversary year. 

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About Off The Record Youth Counselling

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.

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