The Philippi History

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 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. The foundations of the Philippi Trust were put in place, Trustees were drawn together and the trust was formally launched after gaining charitable status in 1992. (Reg Charity No 1016105)

When...Malcolm first 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.

Malcolm was... involved from early on in the establishment of the Association of Christian Counsellors the professional body to which Philippi is affiliated. Malcolm was on the Board of Directors and for a time a member of the Training Standards Committee. 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 in September 2002. After a few months of working as a trainer for the Trust after his retirement he finally retired due to ill health in Spring 2003.

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... soon after joining the Trust in October 1994, was co-opted onto the ACC Training Standards Committee, and was instrumental in 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. Jan succeeded Graham in early 2005 as Trust Manager.

Prior... to being involved with the Trust Jan worked in several FE Colleges in Leeds where she helped training parents and carers of young children. Jan had returned to study as a mature student when her children were still in school and was awarded a BA in 1988 and a PGCE(FE) in 1991. Jan had been interested in counselling for many years through her work with a variety of groups in church and in the community, as well as working with mature students. This caused her to seek counsellor training and was a student on the first Advanced Level course that Malcolm held at Philippi.

November 2007... After much prayer Jan felt called to take up a position in Yorkshire (her home) and sadly, step down from her position Philippi.

The work... at Philippi continues to this day in the UK, in Europe and even as far afield as South Africa.

Currently we have three patrons...
The Right Reverend Nicholas Reade, the Reverend Doctor Willian R Davies and Reverend Doctor Nigel Wright.

Rev Dr William R Davies - Ex-Principal of Cliff College 1983-94... All whose work involves meeting people at their point of need know how many there are out there hurting and desperately wanting help. what they need more than anything else is to have someone who cares, to whom they can talk in confidence and be listened to with respect. The Philippi Trust provides such a service and is staffed by trained counsellors who adopt a pofessional approach. Moreover, although firmly rooted as a Christian Trust, it is not only for Christians, but welcomes people in need, of all faiths and none, helping them to discover a way through their difficulties. This inclusive approach reflects the compassion of a loving, caring God, as revealed in Jesus. To such a work, I am more than happy to lend my name.