Counselling FAQs

Young people aged 11-25 living in the district of Winchester.

If you are unsure whether your home address is in our district, please contact us to check. If you are not in our area, we will do our best to provide details of an alternative counselling service local to you.

We do have some exclusions as to whom we can work with. These are:

• Young people who are in need of crisis support
• Young people who are a danger to others
• Young people whose issues have to do with adoption (for which there are regulations in place and the counsellor must have specific qualifications to work with the young person concerned)
• Young people who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder (though we do work with disordered eating)
• Young people who are involved with an active court case
• Young people who need support with alcohol or drug addiction before they can begin to think about the root causes of their difficulties

It would be helpful if you could include as much detail as possible on your referral form, to enable us to make a thoughtful decision. We are flexible, use our clinical judgement and are able to signpost to other services as needed.

We offer counselling and therapeutic support in a number of ways, including:

• 1-2-1 counselling at our offices
• Walk & Talk counselling sessions at Winnall Moors and Farley Mount
• Wellbeing Drop-in Cafe based at the South Downs Social Cafe, Winchester on Wednesday from 4-5pm
• Parent support groups
• Parent talks programme
• Parent consultations

Please see our website for further details.

• Anxiety
• Social anxiety
• Low mood and mild depression
• Emotional and behavioural issues
• Obsessional behaviours
• Peer group difficulties
• School refusal or non-attendance
• Body image issues
• Gender or/and sexuality related issues
• Minor substance abuse
• Self-harm and suicidal thoughts
• Impact of sexual abuse and trauma
• Bereavement

• Severe depression
• Psychosis
• Suicidal behaviour and recent attempts
• Severe substance misuse
• Dangerous behaviour
• Severe learning difficulties
• Issues related to adoption and being adopted
• Severe PTSD

Please head to our Refer here page for full details of who we can support and how, together with links to other useful resources and alternative support. If you are then still unsure, please make an enquiry by following the link on that page.

Parents, carers, professionals, children, and young people aged over 13.

If you are a young person, you do not have to tell your parents that you have referred yourself for counselling, but you will need to give their details as an emergency contact.

• First, you contact us by phone on 01962 820444 or email: admin@winchy.org
• We will send you a referral form to complete.
• The referral will be reviewed by our clinical team to make sure we are the right service to help you.
• If we feel that we offer appropriate support that could meet your needs, we will then offer you an initial consultation session with one of our senior counsellors. We aim to hold this session within six weeks of your first contact. If at this stage we feel that we are not the right service to help you, we will try to signpost to another organisation or other relevant support.
• During the initial consultation session, we will explain how counselling may help and the ways in which you may work together with one of our counsellors. This is a great opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have and share details of what you have been experiencing. You will then be placed on our waiting list.
• There may be some time to wait but the next step is to offer ongoing counselling or another intervention

Counselling will give you an opportunity to talk to an experienced counsellor in a safe and confidential space where you can:

• Explore your thoughts and feelings without judgement
• Better understand why you feel the way you do
• Work through your challenging issues in a supportive environment
• Learn tools and coping strategies

Whatever your challenges, Winchester Youth Counselling can provide a safe place to tackle these issues with the guidance and support of our dedicated professional counsellors.

• Sessions are weekly and take place at the same time and in the same place each week.
• When your first session is arranged, you will be given details of where to come. If office-based, your counselling will take place in our offices in St George’s Street, The Winchester Centre, located at:
  68 St George’s Street
  Winchester
  SO23 8AH
• If you are having counselling in school, you will be told when and where to meet your counsellor.
• If you are having Walk & Talk counselling, you will meet your counsellor in an agreed place.
• We are a face-to-face counselling service but can potentially offer online counselling during breaks or holidays.

Sessions are 50 minutes long.

The number of sessions is arranged collaboratively between the young person and their counsellor. The starting point is 6 sessions.

It is important to us and our values as an organisation to be able to offer longer-term support. However, as a charity and due to the nature of our funding, we do generally limit the total number of sessions to 24. There may be some exceptional circumstances where the counselling agreement extends beyond this, but this is on a case-by-case basis.

As a registered charity and thanks to the generosity of our supporters and funders, there is no charge for our service.

If you are able to make a contribution to the cost of your counselling sessions it will be gratefully received, however there is no obligation to do so. We have a card payment machine in the waiting room.

• We have a team of qualified counsellors and usually two or three trainees who are coming towards the end of their training.
• All counsellors have, or (if trainees) are working towards, a recognised counselling diploma and are registered with the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) or equivalent.
• All our counsellors have a wealth of experience working with young people, and some also have experience of working with adults.
• Our counsellors have knowledge and experience in a variety of areas, including bereavement and loss, relationships, sexuality, gender, depression and anxiety, and more.

• You will be matched with a counsellor that is most appropriate to help you depending on the service you need.
• We recognise it can be difficult to discuss certain topics with someone of a particular gender and, in these cases, we will do our best to match you with a counsellor that is right for you. If you want to specify a male or female counsellor, please let us know either when you first contact us, or in your initial consultation meeting and, wherever possible, we will do our best to accommodate this.

Confidentiality is a key priority for us, and anything that is discussed with your counsellor will be in confidence.

If we feel the safety of you or others may be at risk, we may be required to disclose information in the interest of protection. If this occurs, wherever possible, it will be discussed with you first, and your consent will be obtained. If information does need to be shared, only the key details required to be shared to keep you and others safe will be disclosed, not everything that has been covered in the counselling sessions.

To view our confidentiality policy, get in touch, we are more than happy to send you a copy.

Yes, there is a seating area for you to wait ahead of your session and your counsellor will collect you from here when it is time for your appointment.

If you are meeting for a Walk & Talk session, your counsellor will explain where to meet.

Your sessions are designed to be one-to-one with a trained professional and we aim to give you the space and time to talk and be heard confidentially. You are free to bring someone with you to our offices, however we ask that they wait in our waiting area whilst your counselling session takes place.

In some cases, if you wish your counsellor to meet someone, a short introduction can be arranged, but your counsellor will never discuss the contents of your sessions with anyone who accompanies you unless you have reason to specifically consent to this.

Sessions are confidential, from our perspective, unless we have any safeguarding concerns (see ‘Will my counsellor tell anyone what I (or my young person) say(s)?’).

Your child or young person can share as much or as little as they would like with you. It is best not to ask a lot of questions but to let them share what they would like. At times, it may be possible to arrange to have a phone call with the counsellor, if your child is happy with this and has agreed on what can be shared.

We also offer parent consultation sessions, which are one-off sessions with a senior counsellor (not your child’s counsellor), to think about how best to support them.

Please let us know as soon as possible through the below contacts:

• Email us
• Call us on 01962 820444, leave us a message if we are unable to answer.

Yes, there is a lift for access to all floors.

The building is equipped with disabled toilet facilities.

Yes, if you are aged 11-25 and live in the district of Winchester, our service is open to you.

Please let us know your additional needs so we can accommodate you and provide the appropriate support. If we agree together that more specialist support is required that we are able to offer, we will support you in finding help that is more suitable for you.

Our counsellors are experienced in working with people with many conditions and will do their best to tailor sessions to your needs.

Our counselling sessions are in English, but we do have counsellors who speak some additional languages. Please let us know if you would prefer to work in another language, and we will see if it is possible.

Winchester Youth Counselling will always strive to put your comfort and wellbeing first. We understand that on rare occasions problems can arise and you may wish to speak with someone else.

We recommend discussing this first with your counsellor as they are here to help, but if you would rather speak to a different member of staff, please contact our CEO, Hannah Reidy on 01962 820444 or by email.

Contact the office in the first instance, and they will be able to answer your question or put you in touch with the right person. Email: admin@winchyc.org, or call 01962 820444.