Counselling for Adults

People come to counselling when they feel stuck or want something to change. You’ve taken a first big step and got yourself here.

Having a safe, confidential space to talk with a trained professional can bring clarity and relief from symptoms such as anxiety and depression, as well as an opportunity to explore any changes you may want to make.

Counselling can help if you are...
Experiencing anxiety or anxious feelings, these may include panic attacks

Not feeling like your ‘usual self’ and disconnected from the world around you

Feeling confused, burnt-out and unable to cope or lacking confidence

Having difficulties within personal or family relationships

Dealing with loss or bereavement

Facing a problem you find hard to talk about

Experiencing stress or problems related to your work

Accessing counselling

To begin counselling with us:

Complete our short registration form here and pay a non-refundable registration fee of £10 or enter your referral code.
We will contact you (usually by email) for some more information and then book your first assessment appointment with us. This is usually a 50 minute phone session with a GCS counsellor to talk through what brings you to counselling and whether it might help. We charge £45 for this appointment or £20 if you are requesting a reduced fee slot, payable in advance.
Once we have completed your assessment, you are on our waiting list and we will match you with a suitable counsellor. They will then contact you to arrange your weekly sessions, either in-person at the venue of your choosing or online.
We aim to offer an initial assessment within two weeks of receiving your completed registration, before a wait for ongoing counselling of up to eight weeks. If you require a subsidised space, the wait may be longer and can currently be up to nine months as we have limited funding for these slots.

Our registration process is mainly automated, but if you need any help – including once you’ve registered for an update on waiting times – please contact us. Our office phone line is open between 10am and 2pm (Mon-Wed) and 10am and 1pm (Thurs/Fri).

Our Fees

GCS was founded to deliver accessible, high-quality counselling and psychotherapy. We are a not-for-profit charity and mainly rely on session fees to provide our service.

We ask those who can pay the full cost of counselling to do so and our standard weekly fee for adult open-ended counselling is £55. We also have a range of subsidised spaces between £20-£50. These spaces are subject to funding and there is usually a longer waiting list.

We also work with a number of other charities and organisations who may have provided you with a referral code for funded or subsidised counselling for a specific number of sessions. Please enter this code when you register.

Our Therapists

All of our counsellors bring with them relevant training to deliver a professional, high-quality service.

While we predominantly provide psychodynamically-informed counselling, we also integrate other approaches such as EMDR.

We are proud to be the only BACP Accredited Service for adult counselling in Gloucestershire and our training is accredited by the BPC.

FAQs

What is counselling?

There are lots of different types of counselling and all are broadly based on a central idea that talking about your problems with a trained professional is helpful.

Counselling or therapy can improve mental health, increase self-awareness and help us process difficult emotions, experiences or relationships. The benefits and impact of “talking therapy” are widely evidenced. At GCS, our roots are in a type of counselling or therapy called ‘psychodynamic’ and we also offer EMDR. The latter is often used in the treatment of traumatic memories, while the former is an exploration of your current patterns of thought, behaviours and relationships in the context of childhood experience.

The assessment provides the opportunity to decide whether counselling would be appropriate for you or not.
How much is counselling?

Our principal aim as a charity is to offer accessible high-quality counselling to our Gloucestershire community. Our standard weekly appointment fee for adult open-ended counselling is £55, but we do have a limited number of reduced fee appointments for up to nine months of weekly sessions, subject to a waiting list and depending on grant-aid/community donations and people who are able to pay the full fee. With more funding, we would offer more subsidised spaces.

We also work with a number of other charities and bodies to offer fully-funded counselling subject to their eligibility criteria for a specific number of sessions.
Where will I have to go for counselling?
How often would I meet with my counsellor?
How long does counselling take?

We offer open-ended counselling for those paying our full fee and up to nine months of subsisdised counselling to allow time and space for individuals to explore their difficulties and find ways to address them. Some of our funded places also offer a more focused space for a specific issue (typically six or 12 sessions).
What time are counselling appointments available?
Will my counsellor be qualified and experienced?

We’re both a counselling charity and a training institute. Our counsellors in training enable us to deliver much of our subsidised service. All of our counsellors have completed at least preliminary training equivalent to a level three qualification and our adult counselling service is accredited by the BACP, while our post-graduate clinical training is assessed by the BPC.
How long will I have to wait for a counselling appointment?

We aim to offer a first assessment appointment within two weeks once you have returned your registration forms. We then aim to start your regular weekly session within eight weeks. Waiting times for your allocated counsellor however can depend on a number of factors including your availability and venue choice, with evening slots being in higher demand. If you require a subsidised space, there is likely to be a longer wait of up to 9 months as these appointments are limited and subject to funding.

You can contact us by email or phone for an update on our waiting list once you’ve registered and had your initial assessment.
Where else can I go for help?

The NHS provides statutory talking therapy for adults (usually CBT for up to six sessions), which in Gloucestershire is delivered by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

If you are having a mental health emergency and you need urgent help, we are not the right service to access at this point. Please click here for the NHS Crisis website or call 999.
What if I am unhappy with my counselling?

If you’re unhappy with any aspect of your counselling, you should discuss this if possible with your counsellor. If this is inappropriate or doesn’t resolve the matter, please contact our Head of Clinical Services (Nikki Stait) outlining your concerns via [email protected] or ring us on 01453 733310.
Do you offer home visits?

Counselling for Adults

People come to counselling when they feel stuck or want something to change. You’ve taken a first big step and got yourself here.

Having a safe, confidential space to talk with a trained professional can bring clarity and relief from symptoms such as anxiety and depression, as well as an opportunity to explore any changes you may want to make.

Experiencing anxiety or anxious feelings, these may include panic attacks

Not feeling like your ‘usual self’ and disconnected from the world around you

Feeling confused, burnt-out and unable to cope or lacking confidence

Having difficulties within personal or family relationships

Dealing with loss or bereavement

Facing a problem you find hard to talk about

Experiencing stress or problems related to your work

Accessing counselling

Complete our short registration form here and pay a non-refundable registration fee of £10 or enter your referral code.

Once we have completed your assessment, you are on our waiting list and we will match you with a suitable counsellor. They will then contact you to arrange your weekly sessions, either in-person at the venue of your choosing or online.

We aim to offer an initial assessment within two weeks of receiving your completed registration, before a wait for ongoing counselling of up to eight weeks. If you require a subsidised space, the wait may be longer and can currently be up to nine months as we have limited funding for these slots.

Our registration process is mainly automated, but if you need any help – including once you’ve registered for an update on waiting times – please contact us. Our office phone line is open between 10am and 2pm (Mon-Wed) and 10am and 1pm (Thurs/Fri).

Our Fees

GCS was founded to deliver accessible, high-quality counselling and psychotherapy. We are a not-for-profit charity and mainly rely on session fees to provide our service.

We ask those who can pay the full cost of counselling to do so and our standard weekly fee for adult open-ended counselling is £55. We also have a range of subsidised spaces between £20-£50. These spaces are subject to funding and there is usually a longer waiting list.

We also work with a number of other charities and organisations who may have provided you with a referral code for funded or subsidised counselling for a specific number of sessions. Please enter this code when you register.

Our Therapists

All of our counsellors bring with them relevant training to deliver a professional, high-quality service.

While we predominantly provide psychodynamically-informed counselling, we also integrate other approaches such as EMDR.

We are proud to be the only BACP Accredited Service for adult counselling in Gloucestershire and our training is accredited by the BPC.

FAQs

Where to find us…