Counselling and
Therapeutic Services

No, the internal referral is made through your support worker

There are waiting lists for our counselling, which are different for each location and service area. Ask your support worker what the current waiting time is, it can be as little as 4 weeks and at very busy times it can be up to 5 months. The more flexibility you have with your day and time the quicker the process can be.

You will initially be offered 12 weekly counselling sessions. Each session lasts between 50 minutes and 1 hour. It is recommended that you commit to attend the full course of counselling so that you can gain the full benefit.

Try not to go along thinking counselling will be the answer to all of your problems in the first session.  It takes time to explore your thoughts and feelings, counselling is not a quick fix.  Counselling is not an easy process because it involves talking about events and feelings that are emotional, sensitive and difficult or have at times felt overwhelming and you may have tried to push them to one side, avoid or ignore altogether.

If you can’t make the pre-booked appointment then we ask you to call either the main landline number 0121 553 0090 or let your support worker know as soon as possible.  We ask that you try to call at least 24 hours before the appointment is due.

BCWA or your support worker can then make the counsellor aware If 2 sessions are missed without contact we will assume that it is not the right time for you at present and re-allocate your session to another client.

All of our team understand that not everyone get on or feels comfortable with everyone and do not take this personally. If you would like to see a different counsellor then although this may feel awkward or difficult do please talk to your support worker and they can organise for you to start with another counsellor. The important thing is that you get the support that you need.

All our team are women but you can request to see a male counsellor.

Yes, you can state a preference of which day of the week you would like and we have pre-assigned time slots throughout the day at 09:30am, 10:45am, 12pm, 1:15pm, 2:30pm and 3.45pm.

There are also two late-night slots on a Monday evening in West Bromwich 5pm & 6pm and two in Dudley on a Tuesday.

In your first session with the counsellor they will go over what is termed your ‘Counselling Contract’. In that it sets out the circumstances in which we would not be able to keep what you have said confidential. The counsellor is bound by the law in these circumstances. These circumstances would be anything that comes under Child Protection, if there is a risk of serious harm to yourself or an other and acts of terrorism as examples.

The counsellor will talk to you about what lead you to counselling, there is no expectation that you go into great detail about the actual events, you can explore the impact those experiences have had and the feelings that have resulted.

Your safety and stability are what is most important and if you are concerned that this may happen the counsellor can spend a few sessions to begin with looking at how you manage difficult and overwhelming feelings which then gives you the confidence to be able to talk more openly and in depth.