COUNCILLORS are to investigate what services are available in Wellington for young people living with mental health problems.

They have agreed that the issue of mental health was becoming more and more prevalent and that they needed to do something.

Members of Wellington Town Council agreed at their latest meeting to defer making a decision on whether to support the Family Counselling Trust group with financial backing until they had found out what other services were available in the area.

The FCT had applied to the council for funding to offer counselling to young people in Wellington experiencing mental ill-health.

The group asked the council to grant the full cost of just under £3,000 needed to provide a series of six sessions for eight youngsters and associated information and guidance to their families.

And Cllr Andrew Govier was quick to point out that there was a ‘crisis with mental health issues’ in the country. “Anything we can do to help tackle this is important,” he said. “But I understand there is already a group in Wellington which provides similar services.”

He suggested that the matter be deferred so the council could find out what was happening in the town.

“We should be supporting this but we need to look at this more fully and perhaps not put all our eggs into one basket,” added Cllr Govier.

Cllr Ross Henley said: “This area is very appropriate for us to get involved in. There are problems out there with mental health issues but we need to see what provision is already being provided in the town.”

But not everyone was convinced they should support the FCT.

“Six sessions for eight youngsters is not good enough,” said Cllr Mark Lithgow. “Mental health is an ongoing programme.”

And Cllr Marcus Barr said he was confused as to why the FCT was asking for council support when it already had £80,000 in its bank account.

“Why can’t they use some of that money?” he asked. “I don’t want this town council to be seen as a soft touch.”