Entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Forest of Dean construction school AccXel and COO of KW Bell, Nicola Bird, has been appointed a patron of Listening Post Counselling Service.
Established in 1991, Listening Post is a charity with centres in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud which offers counselling services to people in need across the county either for free, or for an affordable donation.
As an award-winning businesswoman with an impressive track record in both business growth and success, as well as personal and professional development, Nicola is an influential figure in the Gloucestershire business community.
Bringing a wealth of contacts from across not only the construction industry, but the small business community in Gloucestershire, the charity hopes Nicola's appointment will help it to raise awareness of the need for personal support for employees — and the accessible counselling services it can provide.
Praising her 'resilient, can-do approach', her skills are 'welcome assets' to the charity, which is facing immense pressure amid soaring demand for accessible mental health support.
Listening Post's CEO, Linda Bullock, said: 'Nicola is a timely breath of fresh air. Her energy, enthusiasm and wealth of experience and local connections are worth their weight in gold to us.
'Listening Post over the years has achieved so much with so little, but we simply don’t have the capacity or resources to sustain what we are doing, let alone to get where we want to be in meeting the immense need for accessible talking therapies in our community. I could not be more excited for Nicola to join us; she has already blown us away with her ideas and we’ve only just begun!'
The charity is planning to start offering counselling to corporate organisations in Gloucestershire, where it says Nicola's expertise and support will be 'invaluable'.
Nicola said: 'I'm truly honoured that you’ve chosen me for this role... The decision was an absolute no-brainer — I was genuinely moved by the amazing work the charity does.
'I hope I can live up to your expectations and bring as much value to the charity as possible.'
