The University of Cambridge Staff Counselling Centre Is committed to providing a timely response to requests for counselling. We recognise that at any given time there are likely to be distressing and impactful global and national events that can affect the emotional and psychological wellbeing of our colleagues in the university. If you or someone you are working with at the university has been impacted by such an event, and would like to access counselling support, please or complete the Registration form via the link below or get in touch by emailing staffcouns@admin.cam.ac.uk
In response to the tragic events unfolding in the Middle East The Staff Counselling Centre will be prioritising staff impacted.
You can have your counselling session either by attending in person or remotely, by video call (Teams).
Please note that we will do what we can to accommodate your preference to be seen in person, but are not able to guarantee in person appointments will be available for all requests.
If you do not have access to a private space from which you can access your counselling session and you would prefer to have a video appointment, we can arrange for you to use a room in the service.
How do I apply?
If you decide you would like to speak to a counsellor you can apply by completing the online Registration Form
NB: You will need your Raven password to use this facility.
If you prefer, you can download the form and complete it:
Registration form [Word] [PDF]
The Staff Counselling Centre is available free of charge to all staff who hold a University contract of employment: academic, academic-related, assistant, research and technical. We regret that workers on assignment through the Temporary Employment Service and staff from Cambridge University Press and Assessment are not eligible to use this service. Please see our Other Sources of Support page for details of services available outside the University.
College staff who are employed by the Colleges and who are not University employees may use the Staff Counselling Centre but need to first obtain a referral from their HR advisor, please see For College Staff page.
HR and Occupational Health Referrals
We can also accept referrals from Human Resources and Occupational Health, please click here for more information.
What happens next?
You will receive confirmation that your registration form has been received.
You will then be invited to attend an Initial Consultation.
The Initial Consultation will last for up to 50 minutes. This appointment is an opportunity for you together with your counsellor, to assess your situation and whether counselling might be helpful.
If you decide you would like weekly counselling sessions, your name will be placed onto the Staff Counselling Centre waiting list. You might not be allocated the same counsellor that you have seen for the Initial Consultation.
Waiting Times
We do our best to see you as quickly as possible.
Initial Consultations: Your Initial Consultation will take place within two weeks of your application.
Weekly Appointments: We aim to offer weekly sessions within 6 weeks of your Initial Consultation
We would be grateful if you could provide us with as much flexibility as possible regarding your availability, as this will enable us to allocate you a counsellor.
Missed appointments
Please let us know with as much notice as possible when you are not going to be able to attend an appointment.
If you cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, or you do not attend, the session you have missed will count as one of your allocated sessions.