Counselling

Counselling offers you a confidential space to talk through things that may be affecting your ability to function from day-to-day.

It could help you express how you feel and support you to make your own sense of this.

Counselling might help you to accept or shift some unpleasant feelings and support you to make your own decisions about what you want to do now or in the future – or you may want some space to talk about things that are perplexing you.

The counsellor’s role isn’t to give advice. You are the expert in your own life, and the counsellor will support you through the process.

People come to counselling with a broad range of issues, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Stress
• Life changes
• Issues with relationships
• Work problems
• Isolation
• Bereavement and loss
• Feeling stuck or unable to cope

Short-term Counselling

We offer short-term counselling (8 sessions) to people aged 16 years and over, and each session last for 50-60 minutes.

We currently offer counselling on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We have some evening appointments available, but the wait for this is longer due to limited availability.

Counselling can be offered in our premises in Musselburgh or by telephone or video call. Find out more about how our phone and video therapy works.

Our team of counsellors are all carefully recruited. Some are qualified and some are in training and working towards a professional qualification. All counsellors are supervised and supported and work within BACP/COSCA guidelines.

Because our counselling is short term, it is not suitable for everyone. If we think you would benefit from longer term or a different type of therapy, we will offer you an assessment appointment to discuss your needs and help you find the best option for you.

What do I do if I want counselling?

1. Contact us on 0131 653 3977 or email info@changeschp.org.uk. We will ask for some basis information to get you registered with Changes.
2. We will book you an telephone appointment with a Peer Worker (usually within two weeks). This appointment can last up to 30 minutes.
3. During the telephone appointment our Peer Worker will talk through the support available at Changes.
4. Following the telephone appointment we will email or post you a counselling request form. If you are having trouble completing the form, let us know and we will arrange a suitable time to talk through the form and complete it together.
5. Once you have completed and returned this to us, we will email to let you know we have received it. We will then offer you a counselling consultation to ensure counselling at Changes is right for you at this time and to allow you to ask any questions you may have. Sometimes we will refer you to other sources of support if this is appropriate.
6. We will then add you to our counselling waiting list and contact you when we are able to offer a start date. The waiting time for counselling is usually around 6 months.