One to one sessions are free and offered at the Leigh Park office, Monday to Friday afternoons and evenings, 4,000 sessions are offered each year. 

Each session is 50 minutes in length with the same allocated counsellor. You can use counselling to help you think more clearly, make decisions or changes in your life or come to terms with difficult experiences, both past and present.

• Counselling is a private time for you to talk about anything that is worrying you
• You won't be told what to do
• You won't be judged or criticised
• You will be listened to and supported in working things through
• Counselling takes place in private - just you and your counsellor

Before you start counselling, you will attend an introductory appointment so you can find out how our services work, we can gather some contact details and help you to do a self-assessment of your needs. We will support you to explore if counselling is for you or if another Off The Record service would be better; groupwork, managing emotions course or young carers programme. Once you have decided counselling is the service you want we will add you to the waiting list. While waiting for a counsellor to become available that meets your needs and availability, we will provide weekly phone calls.

It felt like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It helped me realise how things could be so much better; they really listened to me.

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Once counselling commences you will attend weekly, your counsellor will work with you to build a strong, safe and confidential relationship with regular reviews. Counselling support usually lasts for about 8-12 sessions; sometimes it can be less and occasionally some young people benefit from seeing their counsellor for up to 18 sessions.

Our counsellors are all volunteers with experience of working with young people.  We recruit volunteer counsellors who are either fully qualified or are training at university and have “fitness to practice” status.

All counsellors adhere to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions

 

The counsellor listened; she gave me strength, and gave me tools to deal with my own grief and anger at the world. Those invaluable tools I still use to this day.