The Staff Counselling Centre has worked hard and innovatively to make our services as accessible to our clients as possible in these challenging times.
Counselling support sessions are available via telephone and Zoom remotely, and also Zoom sessions accessed from a confidential room within the Staff Counselling Centre where everything necessary is set up ready for you. This enables you to have your counselling in our building in a safe and private space.
We are also delighted to announce that we now have heat and light in one of our confidential outside courtyards. This means than we can offer a limited number of face-to-face counselling sessions at our Lensfield Road premises.
How do I apply?
Please read the Information about the Staff Counselling Centre page to check you are eligible for the service.
You can refer yourself online in complete confidence via our secure referral form. You will need your Raven password to use this facility.
Complete Pre-Counselling form online (secure website)
If you prefer, you can download the form and complete it.
Are there criteria?
There are not criteria that your concerns must meet; nobody will be judging the severity of your problems and early intervention may prevent the issue becoming serious. An initial consultation will determine whether counselling might be helpful to you. You can also be referred by HR or Occupational Health.
Please note that, in line with our confidentiality policy, the counselling service DOES NOT inform anyone outside the service that you are coming for counselling.
What happens next?
Firstly you will receive confirmation that your application has been received. You will then be invited in for an Initial Consultation. We aim for this to take place within two weeks of your application. This time will be minimised the more flexible you are able to be with your availability.
The Initial Consultation will usually last 45 minutes. It will be an opportunity for us together to establish the best way forward for you, and whether counselling might be helpful. If so, you will then go on the waiting list for ongoing counselling. This will not necessarily be with the same person who you see for the Initial Consultation. Ongoing sessions are weekly at the same time and day each week.
Once you are offered an appointment, if we do NOT hear back from you accepting the offer, that appointment will be reallocated to someone else.***** It is really helpful if you can give an email address and a telephone number on which you can be contacted as appointments sometimes become available at short notice.
Waiting Times
While we do our best to see you as quickly as possible,waiting times for ongoing appointments are currently approximately four to six weeks. Please be as flexible as possible regarding your availability, as this will make your wait as short as possible. Generally, appointments are available between 9.00am and 4.00pm on Mondays to Fridays.
Missed appointments
Clearly there are times when you may be unable to attend your appointments for a variety of reasons. Please do let us know as far ahead as possible when you know that you can’t make an appointment. Each unused appointment means that someone has to be on the waiting list for longer. If you cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, or you do not attend, you will forfeit a session.
