Part of our Data Journey's research case study series, with Think Social Tech.

July 2025

Precious Counselling and Mentoring CIC supports children, young people, and their families in the London Borough of Enfield with mental health and wellbeing. They offer integrative counselling, holistic mentoring, creative therapy and advocacy services. They designed and implemented their own database using Airtable, with support from Superhighways. 

Starting point: from clunky spreadsheets to a smarter system

Two years ago, the organisation relied on Excel spreadsheets to manage day-to-day tasks. This included tracking client information and liaising with their 30 counselling contractors. But their systems were becoming unsustainable and prone to error. Limitations included:

• No alert systems, meaning they could miss or overlook clients
• Manual data entry that was time-consuming and error-prone
• Poor data security for sharing confidential information
• Cumbersome reporting processes
• Frequent errors and data gaps that needed manual correction

The project lead described the everyday challenges like this:

We worried about the spreadsheets. It might not save the right information when two people are using them at the same time. Formulas can go wrong. If you added a client to the spreadsheet, there was no notification - it was easy to miss contacting them. We didn't want to have to worry.

They explored options for a new CRM, but soon discovered existing solutions wouldn't deliver exactly what they wanted. At this point they turned to Superhighways for advice and support.

We didn't want to have to bend the organisation to fit the CRM. We wanted the CRM to be able to fit us.

Approach and solution

Superhighways supported Precious Counselling and Mentoring, working through 7 stages of database implementation. This included:

Scoping and planning

At the start of the project, the staff team came together to map out their current systems and processes. Together with Superhighways, they identified what worked and the pain points. This process helped everyone understand why they needed a new system. It also clarified their key requirements.

Choosing Airtable

Superhighways introduced Precious Counselling and Mentoring to Airtable (see the Superhighways CRM guide). They chose it because of the automation tools and built-in forms. It is a step up from spreadsheets and easy to learn or integrate with other systems. They opted for the paid version due to the functionality and the number of records needed.

Designing the system

A project officer had the confidence to learn Airtable and stepped up to lead the work. Superhighways provided advice about how to get the most out of Airtable. They reassured and supported the team to make decisions when opinions differed. They also provided troubleshooting support and ongoing guidance.

Preparing the data and implementing the new system

Precious Counselling and Mentoring spent significant time cleaning, formatting and reorganising their data. They also took time to design forms and tabs to manage contractors, clients and feedback data. Finally, they trained staff and contractors to complete forms and find client information.

At the beginning, we only wanted to have our spreadsheets replicated onto Airtable. But after cleaning up the data and talking with Superhighways, we found out that Airtable would be able to do a lot more for us. 

Impact

Moving to Airtable has transformed the organisation’s operations and client experience. The benefits include:

A better experience for clients

When they receive a referral, they get an alert to contact clients. This ensures they get timely support.

Making sure that our processes aren't hindering people from accessing support is something that I'm really proud of.

Easier for contractors and seamless for staff

It is simple for contractors to submit session forms, track their hours and get paid. Staff no longer have to chase contractors to submit the right information on time. Recruitment is also managed using Airtable, making it easier to track paperwork.

Now, instead of contractors recording their hours and clients and sending in an invoice, they complete a session form for us. That session form comes into the system, notifies us and then we read the notes. If it's completed correctly, we approve it and if not, we can reject it.

Then we've got automation that sends them out the reason why it's been rejected, so they can fix it. Everything is a lot more seamless. We don't have to worry about people trying to get everything in on time, or chase them in the same way, because the form and reminder is automatic.

More secure handling of information

Contractors can log in to the system to access information about clients. This avoids the risks of contractors storing and emailing confidential information.

It also helps with GDPR. Before, we were having to pay for a program that would send out confidential documents. We don't have to do that anymore, because the contractors have logins. Now they can see the client information and session notes there on the system.

Enhanced reporting to inform decisions and funding bids

The new system makes it easy to record how many clients are being seen. As a result, it is much easier to report to funders and to submit funding application forms. Adding data from clinical tools is also making it possible to see which interventions are having the greatest impact for clients. This evidence is being used to support funding applications.

When we are going for funding, it's easier to make statements about the effectiveness of our organisation. From our clinical tools, we can see it’s not just about giving clients 15 hours of support.

We can actually see that clients who receive x, y, z support, go on to see x, y, z difference. This quantitative evidence helps us make a better case for funding.

Key learning and advice for others

Over the past two years, Precious Counselling and Mentoring learnt:

Data cleaning is time consuming, but essential

They meticulously cleaned and organised their data. This included removing duplicates, separating parent and child records, and identifying gaps. The process helped them to understand how to design the forms and tabs they needed.

Building staff confidence

Not all team members were comfortable with Airtable. Superhighways helped by talking to the team about their experience with Airtable. They walked them through the system and how other charities used this. An internal project lead also learnt how to work with Airtable to move the project forwards. They ensured the system was user friendly and met organisational needs. Later, they trained staff and contractors to use Airtable. 

Overcoming fears

Some staff were hesitant to move all their data into one system. Superhighways reassured the team, especially since Airtable can connect with other tools. To build trust, the project lead started introducing Airtable for simpler or self contained tasks. This showed its value whilst old systems were still in place. Additional forms, processes and features have now been introduced to replace older systems.