Counselling

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Counselling is a talking therapy, where you talk through your feelings and experiences with a professional.

You will have a personal counsellor to talk with one-on-one. A counsellor is a caring professional who has had specialist training to help you understand your emotions and how they make you feel.

Counselling is a safe place for you to talk about any issues that are affecting you or that you are struggling with. Counselling can take place in person, or over the phone, depending on the availability and your needs.

Counselling is a therapy that can help if you are struggling to cope or feel that your emotions are overwhelming you. 

There are many reasons counselling might be the right type of support for somebody, and it’s important to remember there doesn’t need to be a specific reason for someone to get support. 

Counselling can help if you are: 

• Feeling worried, scared, stressed, or anxious.

• Feeling sad a lot or not caring about things as much as you used to.

• Having thoughts of harming yourself or maybe you are already self-harming.

• Having thoughts of not wanting to be alive.​​​

• Experiencing something frightening or traumatic.

• Having difficulties at home with family.

• Having difficulties in relationships.

Counselling sessions tend to last around 50 minutes to an hour. Depending on your preferences and the service, you can do your session in person with your counsellor, over the phone, or online.

You will talk together about what is going on in your life, any experiences that are affecting you, and things you would like to get help with.

Your counsellor will share some ideas they think could help support you with your mental health. 

You might feel nervous the first time and not want to talk - that's ok! Counsellors are used to this and often have creative ideas to help you feel comfortable in the session.

It can be daunting at first as they will feel like a stranger. But as you attend each session your counsellor will begin to feel more familiar, and they will help you feel more comfortable in sharing your feelings.

A counsellor should never force you to talk about anything you don’t want to. The sessions are your safe place and your time to explore things when you’re ready.

If you think you’d like to try counselling, you need to find a service that can help. You might be able to get this support by speaking to a doctor, self-referring to a service in your area, or getting support from a charity like us. 

If this type of support is right for you, and you’ve found a service, you will be offered your first appointment with them.   

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Your first appointment will be an assessment where you can discuss what to expect from your sessions and what you want to get out of them. They might ask some questions about what is going on for you, which might feel a bit uncomfortable, but it’s just so they can understand your experiences and start to know how best to support you.   

This time is also a chance for you to ask any questions you might have about counselling. You might want to know: 

• What can I expect from counselling? 

• How many sessions will we have together? 

• If I don’t feel comfortable with my counsellor, who can I speak to about this? 

• What kind of things might we talk about? 

• Where will our sessions be? 

It can be a good idea to write some questions down before you go to your assessment and take them with you, as sometimes in new situations nerves can make it hard to remember what you want to ask! 

All of the information on this page was created with practising health professionals. This page was reviewed in April 2025. We will next review the page in 2028.