Welcome to Care Counselling
Our current waitings times are approximately: 12 weeks.
Thank you for expressing an interest in our counselling service:
1.The first step in our referral process is to fill out a self-referral form on our website (The box to the right of this one), which will submit direct to our counselling department.
2. Within a few days, a counsellor will be in touch with you via telephone to carry out an assessment of your needs, and explain what we are able to offer you at that time. During this assessment we will gather some general information from you such as address, date of birth and GP details, this is standard counselling procedure.
3. After your assessment you will be offered an appointment with a counsellor suited to your needs.
4. You will then agree with your counsellor the medium by which you and your counsellor will use to meet ie in person, online or on telephone. You will both also agree a time and day to meet. This will be the same time, on the same day every week and each session will last for 50 minutes.
5. You will then be offered an initial 6 sessions and you can discuss with your counsellor whether or not you feel more sessions are appropriate. Please note that additional sessions are also dependent on our current waiting list and during busy periods may not be possible.
Our client service is client centred and therefore client led. Our counsellors are extensively trained and experienced. What modality we use depends on what is best according to client need. You will never be forced to talk about anything you don't want to as we understand one of the most important aspects of the therapeutic relationship is trust.
Our in person sessions take place in the counselling department, in the skainos centre on the Newtownards Road in Belfast.
Here at Care Counselling we understand that everyone during their lifetime goes through difficult, stressful and anxiety provoking situations. These difficulties can sometimes resolve by themselves. However, if your problems have been going on for a long time, are affecting your ability to work or function day to day, or are impacting on your relationships with others, talking to a professional counsellor or therapist could be of benefit.
If you feel that talking to a professional would be beneficial, we at Care Counselling would love to journey with you and support you in whatever way we can. All our counsellors are professionals, BACP Accredited or working towards their BACP Accreditation.
We also do not believe that people should be excluded from talking therapy or counselling due to insufficient finances and as such we provide counselling and psychotherapy free of charge.
You can refer yourself using the above button or contact us on 028 9045 8560.
“Having psychological therapy made me realise that bottling up my feelings was not the way to go. Working with my therapist helped me feel I was not alone, that I was not going crazy and that there were things I could do to overcome the problems I was having.”
- Amanda, Belfast
“Cognitive behavioural therapy has really helped me to get my problems into perspective. I only wish I had known sooner that therapy would have such a positive impact on my life!”
– Paul, Belfast
“Therapy really helped me to learn to cope with the distress I was feeling and for the first time in a long time I began to see a future for myself.”
– Sarah, Castlereagh
The EBM counselling and psychotherapy service has been established for over 10 years. Our experienced counsellors and therapists strive to create a warm, safe and personal space for clients to be able to explore difficult thoughts and feelings, and support them in their journey to find solutions to their difficulties.
We work on building strong therapeutic relationships based on trust and respect, with people of all faiths and none, and we value the individual differences and backgrounds of all our clients. We provide counselling and psychotherapy for children, young people, adults, and older adults and families.
Some examples of the kinds of problems we are experienced in working with include but are not limited to:
Depression and low mood (including post-natal depression)
Bereavement/grief
Anxiety and stress
Panic attacks
Relationship/interpersonal problems
Sexual abuse issues
Psychological trauma (including trauma relating to the Northern Ireland troubles)
Faith and spiritual issues
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Anger management problems
Personality issues
Chronic pain and physical health conditions
Phobias
Low self-esteem
It is not uncommon for people experiencing psychological/mental health difficulties to have thoughts and feelings about suicide. While we try to see people as soon as we can, due to the high demand for counselling and psychotherapy services in Northern Ireland, it is likely that you will need to wait for an appointment.
If, at any time, you feel that your suicidal thoughts and feelings have developed to a plan and/or intent to harming yourself or someone else, please contact your GP surgery or GP out of hours service, or go to your local Accident and Emergency Department.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust: Out of hours GP
South and East Belfast - 02890 796220
North and West Belfast - 02890 744447
Samaritans are also available 24 hours a day to anyone in emotional distress; you can speak to them in confidence for free on 116 123, or e-mail jo@samaritans.org.
Care Counselling occasionally offers clinical placements to counsellors in training. To register your interest please send a C.V. to our Counselling Co-ordinator: joanna.craig@ebm.org.uk
Care Counselling is a free of charge, at the point of need service, as we do not believe people should be excluded from talking therapies or counselling due to lack of finance. However, if you can and would like to make a donation to Care Counselling to support our work, you can find our bank details and gift aid form here.
Alternatively you can donate directly above.