There can be many different reasons for seeing a counsellor. You may be going through a difficult period in your life and require support from someone outside of your bubble. You could also be experiencing irritation from the repetition of certain patterns in your life and struggling with relationships. You may even simply wish to have a better understanding of yourself and want to make better decisions. Perhaps you are suffering from certain feelings and emotions, which you do not understand. As a result, you may want help with these, or find ways to develop coping mechanisms. Seeing a counsellor could also be used as a tool for personal development. Whatever the issue may be, our initial assessment can help you understand how therapy works, how it could be of assistance for you, and how we might address any concerns or situations you may be facing.

Our referral form is part of your therapeutic journey: we have developed it in order to gather relevant information about you, so that we know how best to provide support. It also helps us in understanding your presenting difficulties, needs and history. This builds a picture for us to see which form of therapy may be best for you: counselling or CBT. This form is reviewed by your counsellor prior to your initial assessment which will then be followed by an agreement for length of therapy and therapy itself. The information you provide us will be held in confidentiality so long as information which could put yourself or another individual at risk is not disclosed.

All face-to-face and online-based services must be paid 5 days in advance to your sessions, for the duration of your therapeutic journey. Payments can be made via bank transfer or PayPal. An email receipt will be sent to you upon receiving payment. ​ Account name: Path Counselling Ltd Bank: Starling Sort Code: 60-83-71 Account number: 89800695 PayPal: @pathcounselling – paypal.me/pathcounselling Payment reference: Path, followed by your initials and date you received the service e.g. PathJC22/08/19

Counselling is a form of therapy designed to enable an individual to speak about their thoughts and feelings within a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space, to work through any concerns or problems they could be facing. This tends to be a longer therapeutic approach to unfold underlying issues and overcoming those overwhelming hardships. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy designed on helping individuals manage certain problems and altering behaviours so that they can cope with them. It focuses on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that are held. This method is commonly used to help clients who have anxiety, depression and substance misuse. There’s no need to worry about choosing the therapy. This is because we will make that professional judgement for you. Our referral form and initial assessment are used to help us select the best approach on the basis of your answers. If you are not satisfied with our suggestion, we are happy to offer you the service which you feel will be best suited to you and your situation. Additionally, clients who access CBT have the option to proceed onto counselling upon completion of their initial plan, should they require further support. Any extension to therapy is based on assessment reviews and client support needs.

This is where you will meet your counsellor for the first time and have a taster as to what therapy may be like. Additionally, it is an opportunity for you and your counsellor to build an understanding for one another in addition to building that crucial professional relationship. It is also a space to develop a therapy plan for the sessions moving forward - a place to set goals and objectives too. Your counsellor will also go through necessary information with regards to how sessions will run. You will also set the amount of sessions you would like to have in the first instance. This session is only 40 minutes because it is an introduction and a place to make sure that you are well informed about the process and happy to commit to this journey. Upon completion of this session you are able to make the decision to engage with the course of therapy.

This is different for each case and individual. The rate of progress and development is never the same. Mental health cannot be rushed and each individual is different and must receive adequate care and support. We offer both counselling and CBT. The shorter of the two therapies is CBT. Based on your needs, if this therapy is being received, you should be able to notice some change in just a few sessions. However, the longer-term therapy option is counselling. This is because it requires more time to overcome patterns, experiences and situations that have been developed throughout a longer period of time. As a rough guideline; short-term therapy runs for a duration of 6-12 sessions and is mainly focused on relieving symptoms and behaviours. On the other hand, longer-term therapy takes place for a duration beyond this. An example could be anywhere between six months to a year and is aimed at addressing deeper, more underlying issues which can increase the risk of emotional turmoil resurfacing as a result of the struggles of life’s events.

We would strongly advise that everyone gives therapy a try. The best way to do this is through having an initial assessment with your counsellor. This will give you a sense of whether therapy is for you or not. You are not committed to any further sessions after this, unless you would like to proceed. Clients often find that after having their first session, has helped them in deciding what they need and if the support is right for them.

Yes, everything discussed with PATH Counselling is confidential. The only exception to this would be if you disclose any information which could put yourself or another person at risk. In this case your counsellor may contact another professional involved in your care, for instance, your GP. This is something that will always be made clear and discussed during your initial assessment. Your counsellor will also cover all agreements with you to ensure you have given informed consent.

PATH Counselling is a private practice, so we shall never communicate with external agencies involved in your care unless you give us permission to do so. The only exception to this is highlighted in the question about confidentiality. Additionally, it is good practice for any support service to have details of your GP should we ever need to contact them, in the best interest of the client. If there are any concerns regarding this matter, please discuss during your initial assessment.

Therapy sessions can be cancelled with 48 hours’ notice and a full refund for the session is possible. If you cancel a session with less than 48 hours’ notice or do not attend an agreed therapy session, the full fee of the session will be incurred. If a client is late to either face-to-face or online therapy by 10 minutes or more, on more than one occasion, the time will be deducted from the session and a full fee will be incurred.

In the case where your counsellor is not available and you are feeling low in wellbeing and require emergency support, numerous charities are available out of hours, which provide a hotline service. Emergency numbers and services can be found below. Please contact any of these services out of hours or leave a voicemail with PATH Counselling if it is a matter which can be addressed in-hours. Our counsellor will get in touch with you as soon as he can. Samaritans - 116 123 (Available 24/7) CALM (for men) - 0800 58 58 58 (5:00pm-midnight everyday) Switchboard (LGBTQ+) - 0300 330 0630 (10:00am–10:00pm every day) Papyrus (35 and under) - 0800 068 41 41 (9:00am-midnight everyday) SANEline - 0300 304 7000 (4.30pm–10.30pm every day)

Upon completion of therapy, clients are given two options: ​ 1. The first being that they would like to commence on their own journey and enter what we call a ‘breathing’ period. During this time the client leaves the service taking the tools they have attained to work on themselves in their daily life. If a client enters this period, they are unable to come back to PATH Counselling for a minimum of 3 months. After this time, a client can submit another referral form to hop back on their ‘PATH’ with our service. 2. The second option is that the client is given the opportunity to extend their support and continue accessing the service should they deem it necessary, based on their needs and assessment reviews.

At this moment in time, PATH Counselling can only offer online therapy due to COVID-19. Upon its decline we hope to move back into an office whereby the location will be confirmed as and when this happens.