We are hugely excited to announce that Chris Packham has agreed to become a patron of Winchester Youth Counselling!

In July 2021, the BBC first aired Chris Packham: The Walk that Made Me on BBC One. This saw Chris walking the Itchen Navigation, reminiscing about his childhood and life growing up, whilst walking through the beautiful Hampshire countryside. During the walk, Chris also shared some personal history of difficulties with mental health during his younger days, with the walk concluding at the historic site of Winchester Cathedral.

Chris Packham looking at the camera against a green blur background wearing a brown coat with white spots

Image: WYC Patron Chris Packham (Image credit: Joe Charlesworth)

More recently, we met with Chris and explained the work that we do with young people in the District of Winchester. Many of our clients are struggling with complex issues including anxiety and depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. Young people, parents, carers and professionals have huge difficulties accessing support with long waiting times. WYC services are under increased demand and we are doubling our free counselling and support provision in 2022 to support young people as quickly as we can. Chris was very interested in the work that we do and we look forward to welcoming him to an event later this year, to highlight the importance of our work. As a charity, funding this is an ongoing priority and we hope that this patronage will help raise the profile on WYC and gain more public support.

Erin is wearing a black blazer and yellow top, Chris is wearing a yellow and grey polo shirt and Sian a black blazer and white shirt. The image is taken as a selfie.

Image from left: Erin McMurtry (CEO), Chris Packham & Sian Searles (WYC Trustee)

Chris Packham is a much loved UK Naturalist, Television Presenter, Photographer and Author. He is well known for the children’s television series The Really Wild show, and more recently Springwatch, on the BBC. Chris is extremely passionate about wildlife and conservation and we look forward to continuing to grow our Nature Therapy and Walk and Talk therapy programmes over the coming years. We would like to thank Chris again for agreeing to be our Patron, we are incredibly grateful and hopeful we can achieve so much more with his support.

If you would like to contribute towards providing free mental health support for young people in Winchester, consider making a one-off or monthly donation. Also, please follow us on social media for frequent updates and information.