Staff Counselling FAQs

Who can use the Staff Counselling Centre?

The Staff Counselling Centre is available to all staff with 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. 

Staff who are employed by a College but who do not have a University contract may use the Staff Counselling Centre. Please check our college drop down menu to see if your college has made specific funding arrangements with our service. If your college is listed the first step is to obtain a referral from your College Personnel Officer or College Nurse (subject to specific College arrangement) in order to secure funding.

Do I have to pay?

University Staff: No, the Staff Counselling Centre is available free of charge to all staff who hold a University contract of employment.

College Staff: please see Information for College Staff

How long will I have to wait for an appointment offer?

We do our best to see you as quickly as possible.

Initial Consultation: We aim for this to take place within two weeks of your application

Weekly Appointments: We aim to offer weekly sessions within 8-10 weeks of your Initial Consultation. At busy times of the year this could be extended.

Please be as flexible as possible regarding your availability, as this will make your wait as short as possible.  

Can I request a specific time or day for my counselling?

Yes, but hold in mind that the more flexibility you can offer, the easier it is for us to allocate appointments.

Can I change the appointment time offered to me?

You will be offered a specific appointment time, according to the availability you have given to us on your Pre-counselling form.

If you are not able to attend at this time please let us know as soon as possible so that we can re-use this appointment, and we will reallocate an appointment to you as soon as we can.

Weekly counselling appointments are scheduled at the same time on the same day, with your allocated counsellor. When you complete the availability chart on the registration form it is helpful if you can indicate times at check you can consistently attend.

How long are the appointments?

 Appointments will last for up to 50 minutes. 

Do I have to fill in a Registration form?

The information about your personal circumstances that you provide us with will help us to understand your difficulties and to allocate you to a counsellor from the USCC team.

We understand that you might find it difficult to write about your difficulties and it is OK to keep this brief if that is preferable to you.

We do require some personal details in order for counselling to proceed so we appreciate your cooperation with filling out as much of the form as you can.

College Staff: Please see Information for College Staff

Does my problem have to be work-related?

Your difficulties do not have to be work-related to be eligible to access counselling.

Staff come with a wide range of personal issues that are affecting their psychological and emotional wellbeing.

Does my problem have to be a serious one to see a counsellor?

This is often a worry for people considering seeking counselling

The Staff Counselling Centre provides support for a wide range of issues and with differing levels of complexity and severity. 

Will my counsellor tell anyone about my problems?

The counselling we offer is confidential, which means we will not discuss your situation with anyone outside the Centre, unless we have your consent to do so. Exceptions to this rule apply only if there are legal or statutory obligations to disclose information, or if there is a risk of serious harm to you or someone else. For more information about this please see our Confidentiality Policy. 

Sometimes it can be helpful for your counsellor to communicate with others relevant to your situation - your GP, or other support agency - to ensure you are receiving the best support possible. If your counsellor thinks this will be helpful they will discuss it with you first and ask for your consent.

Will records be kept about my counselling?

Yes. The University Staff Counselling Centre keeps a record of the personal contact information that you provide us with on your Pre-counselling Form, as well as anonymised information that the centre uses to compile statistical reports about service usage.

Counsellors also keep brief notes following each counselling session. All of these records are stored securely and are not released outside the service apart from in the exceptional circumstances described in our confidentiality policy.

You have the right to request your counselling records.

For more information about our record keeping and data protection matters, please see our section on Data Protection

What if I am worried about someone else?

If you are worried about a friend, partner, colleague or relative, you can arrange a single consultation session to discuss your concerns, but hold in mind that this is not an emergency service.