Change Birmingham Brief Therapy
Charity 1037463
Overview
Summary
Change Birmingham Brief Therapy appears to combine a local, brief-intervention counselling service with training in solution-focused practice. Its model may be designed to extend impact beyond direct client work: counselling addresses immediate emotional needs, while training develops a wider pool of practitioners and public understanding. The organisation presents itself as accessible and recovery-oriented, but its broad charitable beneficiary categories sit alongside a more specific public offer to people aged 11 and over in Birmingham.
Operational geography
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Soho and Jewellery Quarter
Confidence: low
The organisation’s current website directly supports that it has an active physical service base with accessible counselling rooms, rather than only a registered address. However, the supplied evidence does not support assigning that service base to the named ward without relying on address-derived geographic information.
- Change Birmingham Brief Therapy – Contact page
Lists an address for counselling services and provides directions, opening hours and transport information. - Change Birmingham Brief Therapy – Room Hire page
States that its offices contain accessible counselling rooms available throughout the day, supporting that its premises are in active operational use. - Birmingham City Council – New ward maps 2024
Provides the official Soho and Jewellery Quarter ward map.
Remaining uncertainties
- The website directly says that emotional support is provided 'within the Birmingham area', which supports a citywide operational identity, but it does not identify regular delivery locations, referral volumes or clients served by ward. It is therefore not possible to evidence service delivery in particular Birmingham wards beyond the organisation's service base.
- The organisation describes partnerships with Birmingham Mind Crisis Helpline and Talking Space Centres, and says counselling staff are contracted through a Local Trust partnership across four hospital sites. These statements indicate that partnership work may extend reach beyond its service base, but the current status, names and locations of the relevant sites are not specified.
- The website refers to helping people 'in Birmingham and beyond' and historically describes the organisation as a West Midlands training provider. This does not establish a current regional delivery footprint, so regional coverage has not been concluded.
- There is a minor inconsistency between the Charity Commission record and the organisation’s current website concerning the premises address.
Additional evidence needed
- A current service or impact report showing where counselling clients are referred from, seen in person, or supported remotely across Birmingham.
- Confirmation from Change Birmingham Brief Therapy of the current delivery model, including whether counselling is delivered only from its advertised service base, by telephone/online, or through other venues.
- Current partner confirmation identifying the four hospital sites and any active Birmingham Mind or Talking Space arrangement, with appropriate safeguarding limits.
Areas of work
- Education/training
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
Who they help
- Children/young People
- The General Public/mankind
How they help
- Provides Services
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A dual model: direct support and capability building
The organisation appears to use solution-focused therapy both as a frontline counselling service and as a method it seeks to spread through training. This may make it more than a service provider: it could also strengthen local capacity to respond to emotional and psychological need.
Why it matters
This suggests its potential influence may extend beyond the people it counsels directly, through trained counsellors and wider understanding of the approach.
Show evidence
“The charity's objects include providing solution focused therapy and counselling services, and advancing education and training in the practice and uses of that therapy among counsellors and the general public.”
Source:Charity Commission“Change Birmingham Brief Therapy describes itself as a solution focused training provider and counselling organisation.”
Source:Organisation
Brief therapy is presented as an access strategy
Its emphasis on short waiting times, recovery, and three to four sessions suggests a deliberately brief model intended to provide relatively rapid support rather than long-term therapeutic relationships.
Why it matters
This helps distinguish the organisation's likely role within local mental-health support: it may be particularly relevant where people need timely, bounded emotional support.
Show evidence
“The organisation states that 80% of clients move to recovery.”
Source:Organisation“The organisation states that clients usually need 3-4 sessions and that it has short waiting times.”
Source:Organisation
A locally rooted service with potentially wider reach
The organisation appears operationally rooted in Birmingham, while its fundraising language leaves open the possibility that its counselling offer may reach beyond the city. The evidence does not clarify whether this is current delivery, aspiration, or remote provision.
Why it matters
Understanding its real catchment area would help identify whether it fills a neighbourhood, citywide, or wider regional gap—and which other organisations might be complementary partners.
Show evidence
“The organisation provides emotional support to individuals aged 11 and above within the Birmingham area.”
Source:Organisation“The organisation states that donations can help provide more free counselling to everyone who needs it in Birmingham and beyond.”
Source:Organisation“The organisation lists an address at 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham B18 6NF.”
Source:Organisation
- Whether counselling is free, subsidised, or paid for all clients, and how eligibility is determined.
- Which communities use the service, including whether the broad beneficiary categories reflect actual delivery.
- How recovery is defined, measured, and sustained after counselling ends.
- Whether room hire is primarily an income source, shared infrastructure for practitioners, or both.
Remaining uncertainties
- Annual reports or service data showing referral routes, client demographics, costs, waiting times, and outcomes.
- Information on training participants, partner organisations, and how training changes local counselling capacity.
- Details of funding sources and the role of room hire in the organisation's operating model.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
Provides a counselling service using solution focused brief therapy method. Trains other professionals in brief solution focused methods.
Charity objects
A) TO RELIEVE PERSONS SUFFERING FROM EMOTIONAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN PARTICULAR BY THE PROVISION OF A THERAPY AND COUNSELLING SERVICE. B) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE PRACTICE AND USES OF THAT THERAPY AMONGST ITS COUNSELLORS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC.