Help Counselling
Samantha
Evans
Philanthropy Manager
Mission
Help Counselling provide compassionate, skilled and affordable one to one counselling for adults. We aim to support those who might not otherwise be able to access such support: 43% of our clients last year had an annual income of £10,000 or less. We accept referrals from across London, and last year 70% of our clients came from the tri-borough (Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham). We were fortunate to receive funding for our Grenfell project, which allows us to offer free counselling for individuals affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.Where we differ from the NHS and some voluntary organisations is that we can off long-term counselling. The NHS usually offer 6-12 sessions. Accessing private therapy is expensive and on average would cost £120 per session in London. We therefore offer clients, who are predominately on low incomes, up to 55 counselling sessions (approx. 1 and half years) at an affordable rate. We are the only organisation offering the opportunity to work long-term in Kensington & Chelsea.
Category
Health
Additional Information
Since 2011, we have increased the number of sessions offered each week from 120 to 215. We operate 46 weeks in a year, generating a total capacity of 9,890 sessions on offer to the local community. 276 of these sessions take place at our satellite service at The School of Meditation in Holland Park and the remainder take place at our four counselling rooms on Portobello Road. Appointments are available Monday to Friday 10am to 7:30pm (8:30pm on Thursday), and Saturdays 11am to 2pm.
It costs approximately £160,000 a year to maintain our service and last year, we supported 500 individuals with counselling and listening support. Everyone makes a financial contribution towards their counselling based on a sliding scale of £1 per £1,000 annual income if you're working and less if you're unemployed or on benefits. We realise that everyone's situation is different i.e. receiving benefits, working, studying, caring and we take that into account when agreeing the contribution. It currently costs Help £29.35 per session of counselling. The average contribution from clients is £10 per session. We therefore fundraise to cover the shortfall.
Help also provides an opportunity for counsellors near the end of training to gain the experience needed to qualify. We currently have 50 supervised trainee counsellors who are in their final years of a 5-year integrative psychotherapy postgraduate training approved by The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).