Our story

What is Wellspring?

Wellspring is based in Starbeck, Harrogate. We have been offering our mental health services for almost twenty years.

Learn about us in our video, or read our story below.

Who we are

Wellspring was established in 2003, by two counsellors who had a vision to support vulnerable people in North Yorkshire with counselling. Since then, Wellspring has continued to grow in size and influence, being an ambitious charity, offering hope to adults, children and young people in emotional distress.

Wellspring is a Christian charity, believing that every person matters and is loved by God. Whilst it is a Christian charity its services are available to all, regardless of background and it welcomes team members from a diverse background who are sympathetic to its values.

Our values

Our values inform all the work we do:

  • We are a welcoming community to all who are involved in our organisation.
  • We are committed to practising professionalism.
  • We endeavour to be ethical in all decision making and practice.
  • The charity is motivated in its activities by Christian faith and values.
  • We foster a culture of generosity to both our team and our clients.
Wellspring team
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Growth and Wellspring House

In 2015 Elaine, as founding director retired, and Emily took on the role.

With a growing volunteer team and demand on the service it was decided a new, bigger building was needed. Wellspring was bought a building at 78 High Street, Starbeck by the Liz & Terry Bramall Foundation. God’s provision and hard work from the team saw over £300k raised to renovate this building into a counselling and training centre for children, young people and adults, which they moved into in August 2018.

The team, now includes 21 part time members, who work from the centre and in local schools, over 45 volunteers and 8 trustees.

Route One to Wellness

In late 2018 Route One to Wellness was founded. Route One is a collaborative partnership between four key VCS providers of Mental Health & Wellbeing support in the Harrogate District, including: Claro Enterprises, Harrogate Mind, Orb Community Arts (Orb Community Enterprise) and Wellspring Therapy & Training. The collaboration is underpinned by a shared set of values: Compassion, Inclusivity, Independence, Collaboration, Generosity, Trust, and Innovation. We recognise the need for continuted innovation to ensure that those experiencing poor mental health receive the support they need. Through partnership working, we aim to provide a joint approach to our service users, offering them a more streamlined and holistic package of support. A collaborative approach to funders and commissioners also simplifies the process of releasing resources to the VCS sector.

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Wellspring House

Our vision and goals

We are saddened that the need for services such as ours continues to grow but we are committed to being part of the response. We want to see children and adults find freedom from darkness and be given the tools to develop resilience and facilitate positive change in their lives.

In the next few years we are looking to partner with local churches outside of Harrogate, sharing our model of work and hopefully seeing more professional, affordable counselling taking place in communities.

Rt Rev Nick Baines

Our patron

Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, Wellspring’s patron:

“For many people with mental health issues, timely access to good quality talking therapy is essential. And at a time when access to that provision is at a premium, charities like Wellspring provide a crucial service, so I am very glad to offer my support by becoming their patron.”

Let's stay in touch!

If you're interested in joining us on our continuing journey, we'd love to stay connected with you. Join our mailing list receive regular updates about our work and events, and how you can support us.

Wellspring House

78 High Street, Starbeck
Harrogate, HG2 7LW

01423 881 881

Opening times

Monday 9am - 8.30pm
Tuesday 9am - 8.30pm
Wednesday 9am - 8.30pm
Thursday 9am - 8.30pm
Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday & Sunday Closed

We work to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Ethical Framework for Good Practice and the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) Code of Ethics.

Wellspring is an Affiliated Organisation number AT 326 of the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) and a partner in the Route One VCS Partnership.