Tenor leads concert for Aylesbury Youth Concern

Mr Simon waived his fee for the concert and delighted the audience at St Mary’s Church with arias from operas and musicals.

The concert raised £1,859 which will go towards preserving Youth Concern’s counselling department for vulnerable youngsters.

Fran Borg-Wheeler, CEO of Youth Concern gave a presentation in the interval calling for a higher priority to be placed on mental health and wellbeing along with a return of compassion at the heart of services.

She explained that Youth Concern were working towards a society where every young person with mental health issues could access the mental health services they required.

Finally, she told the story of a troubled young woman for whom Youth Concern’s free counselling had helped transform her life from one of abuse and low self esteem to one with healthy relationships where she felt loved and cared for.

Paul Doble, head of counselling and deputy manager of Youth Concern then spoke about the need for more resources to be channelled into mental health and therapeutic services.

He talked about the various needs which his team support young people with including depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

Finally he thanked everyone who’d come to the concert for their support emphasising the importance of their contributions and the difference they made in terms of being able to recruit and support more volunteer counsellors and help more vulnerable young people.