Philiphi Trust SA

www.phillippitrust.co.za Tel: 021 852 7659 History Written by Alan Whiteside Thursday, 24 April 2008 The Vision... for a Counselling and Training Centre was part of Malcolm Worsley’s life for many years. The seed was sown in the mid-eighties but it wasn’t until 1989 that the idea was allowed to develop further. Whilst serving as a Probation Officer in Haverigg Prison, Cumbria Malcolm developed a multi-agency approach to counselling life sentence prisoners and drug addicts. Outside working hours Malcolm was a Lay Reader in the Church of England. In both areas he recognised people were often concerned with forgiveness of guilt. He began to combine his secular knowledge with his Christian training both inside and outside the prison. What evolved was a model of counselling training and practice based around the Beatitudes that provided the foundation for developing the work of the Philippi Trust. Inside and outside... the Probation Service Malcolm was also involved in a developing counselling ministry among Christians with a wide variety of problems. Such was the demand for Christian Counselling and Training that Malcolm gave up his work in the prison to work full time as a Christian Counsellor and Trainer, initially with Maranatha Ministries in Cumbria where he developed what was later to become the Philippi Model. The Lord also spoke to him one morning and gave him Philippians 2:1-5 as the Philippi Charter. It was to be aCounselling and Training organisation, available to all denominations and, built on humility, prayer and faith. The foundations of the Philippi Trust were then in place. Trustees were drawn together and the trust was formally launched after gaining charitable status in 1992. (Reg Charity No 1016105) When Malcolm left Maranatha Ministries he worked from his home in Poulton-le-Fylde but within six months the demand for services made the home facilities totally inadequate. In 1993 Philippi House was purchased in Blackpool for an ‘as seen’ price of £45,000. A further £11,000 was spent on refurbishing the building with help from numerous supporters who gave financially and practically. The building houses counselling rooms and offices and has in times past provided accommodation for visitors. Philippi Trust was established in Southern Africa in 1996 when Counselling Training was first delivered in Namibia. The following year the first training course was delivered in South Africa. Three genuine Pioneers took on the responsibility of establishing the Philippi Trust in Namibia and South Africa, Marianne Olivier in Namibia and Linda Rowett and Chantal Philander in the Cape. Their resiliance, prayer and determination was blessed and the foundations of the Philippi Trust in Southern Africa were established. Later they were joined by a fourth person Barbara Kerr, who worked in Natal. In 1997 the Philippi Trust was established in Germany and in May 2001 we ran our first course in Guernsey and on 8th January 2004 Philippi Guernsey was formed. Malcolm was involved in the establishment of the Association of Christian Counsellors in the UK, the professional body to which Philippi is affiliated. Malcolm was an initial member of the the Board of Directors and for many years a member of the Training Standards Committee. He established ACC in the North of England and was made a Fellow of the Association of Christian Counsellors in 2002. He was ordained into the Church of England in June 1996 as a Non-Stipendiary Minister. He continued to work as Director of the Trust until his retirement at the age of 65 in September 2002 due to poor health. He now thanks God for improved health and lives a full life, thoroughly enjoying his retiremet with his wife Jennifer. Graham Sutton who had trained as a counsellor with Philippi became non-executive Director in October 2002 as Malcolm retired until early in 2005. Graham and his wife Judith are members of the Free Methodist Church in Preston and trained with Philippi. They both have a particular interest in marriage preparation and marriage counselling. Being Non-executive Director of Philippi meant that Graham was in reality doing two jobs – steering Philippi and running his business in Blackburn. He did an amazing job of managing the transition after Malcolm’s retirement and still continues to counsel with Judith in the Preston area. Jan Younger joined the Trust in October 1994, and following a recommendation by Malcolm Worsley, was co-opted onto the ACC Training Standards Committee. She was part of the group, along with Malcolm, who were responsible for establishing formal national criteria for recognition of training courses to receive the ACC ‘seal of approval’. Jan is still a member of that committee. Part of Jan’s work at the Trust was to help write and deliver training courses and she was the Training Manager for several years.