For almost 20 years it has been the heart and soul of a community.

It has been a place for recreation, an after-school haven for students and a bridge to broaden educational horizons.

Now the Centre on Angle Street, will be a place where those burdened with everything from job stress to family problems can seek guidance.

As of next month, the Centre will provide locals with access to professional counsellors, thanks to the Bermuda Counsellors Association.

The Centre's Keith Smith said the partnership with the BCA was a natural progression for the Centre which has had to evolve over the years to meet the community's growing needs.

"Over the years the Centre has changed,'' he explained. "Initially it was mostly a recreation centre.

"But we have a variety of people coming here and they don't leave their problems at home. Inevitably, the staff build up a relationship with these people and end up dealing with issues other than recreation.'' Mr. Smith said the Centre's staff had received communication training in a bid to help fulfil the community's needs.

But he said the recent alliance with the BCA provided an additional level of support.

"This is an ideal opportunity to have someone with professional skills come in and work with us,'' he said. "Our staff are not trained to counsel.'' The partnership is a win-win situation for all involved, since the free counselling service will enable counsellors to dispel the negative connotations associated with counselling.

"People are now starting to see counselling more as a service, not an intrusion into their business,'' Mr. Smith pointed out.

"In the past, counselling has had such a stigma attached to it,'' said Lee Ann Simmons of the BCA. "We are trying to promote trust and confidence.

"One of the first things we must let the public know is that we keep things in the strictest confidence unless someone is being hurt,'' she added. "We abide by a code of ethics and the BCA want to have legislation passed regarding ethics and standards.'' Ms Simmons said the BCA members were looking forward to volunteering at the centre since it gave them the opportunity to give something back to he community.

"This is the first time we have done something like this,'' she pointed out.

"In the past we have made charitable donations, but nothing like this.

"We're so excited about this! Many of us have always wanted to give back to society and this is the perfect way to make a difference.'' Two counsellors will be on hand to volunteer their services at the Centre each Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. The volunteers will consult and refer people to various organisation and community resources, like the Employment Assistance Programme and Financial Assistance, that will help individuals solve their problem.

The free service will commence in November.

"We want to network them to all of the resources that are out there,'' said Mr. Smith. "Our goal is to have no one needing the service because all of their problems will have been taken care of.'' The new counselling service will further expand the busy activities schedule of the Centre, which has been a neighbourhood institution since 1980.

"Most of the activities we have here are free, you can just drop in,'' said community worker Harold Minors. " We have a lot of recreational activities, boys and girls clubs and `latch key' services for after school.

"We have free legal advice given by volunteer lawyers and we have one continuing education programme.'' And he said that the community made full use of the variety of services provided by the Angle Street retreat.

"A lot of people come through our doors,'' he noted. "On a given day we can have between 40 to 150 people pass through.

"On weekends that number goes up.'' HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY HOA