One-to-one counselling
Individual counselling
We aim to offer you an initial one-to-one counselling session within two weeks of contacting us.
During this initial assessment session a counsellor will explain what to expect, will clarify the limits to confidentiality, will ask for your agreement about attendance and gather what your preferences are. You will be encouraged to describe your situation and the issues you face so that together you can arrive at an agreed course of action.
Some people find that this single opportunity to talk through issues provides enough support for them to carry on with their lives without further help. Others can be signposted to sources of self help or other agencies. We can set up referrals to workshops, group work and individual sessions from this initial session.
The counsellor helped me realise (in one short session) that I was a human being
If you decide you want further one-to-one sessions of counselling we will try to arrange this with the same counsellor you saw initially but there are times when this may not be possible or it may be more suitable for you to see someone else. You might have to wait 4-6 weeks for this one-to-one work to start at times when the service is busy, but we try to prioritise waiting times according to the urgency of the issues you bring.
Once regular one-to-one work begins you will be able to discuss the number of sessions that seem suitable and depending on your situation and on the present availability of counsellors, you may be seen for a few sessions, a six week contract or longer term work.
Individual counselling sessions last for 50 minutes.