The organisation
What services do we offer?
The Counselling Centre is a non-profit making
charitable company situated in Tunbridge Wells. The
charity is an organisational member of the British
Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
and is a BACP accredited service. The Counselling
Centre offers high quality, professional and affordable
counselling to adults aged 18 years and over in the
surrounding areas of Kent and East Sussex and has
done so since 1989.
Open ended counselling
Long term counselling, which is not readily available on
the NHS, offers an opportunity to explore your
difficulties without limiting the number of sessions.
This enables you to explore many areas of your life.
Our counsellors and how
counselling can help
Couples counselling
We are able to refer you and your partner to our inhouse couples therapists. This counselling will give
you and your partner the space to explore your
relationship difficulties without a time limit.
Counselling may be able to help if
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you are experiencing any kind of loss,
bereavement or trauma.
suffering from stress, anxiety, panic
attacks, depression or finding it hard
to cope.
having difficulties within personal or
family relationships.
having problems adjusting to change,
perhaps through redundancy or
retirement.
you need help to recover from
serious illness, eating disorders or
withdrawal from prescription drugs.
you are facing a problem that is hard
to talk about or resolve such as
abuse, emotional, physical or sexual.
you are just not feeling good about
life at the moment and you don’t
understand why.
There are times in all our lives when we feel unable to
cope, our problems are difficult to understand and we
can find no answer from our own resources or
contacts. Talking to a counsellor who is impartial and
skilled can help us work through our personal
difficulties and find solutions. Without giving mere
advice, they will seek to enable us to find our own
answers, so that we can begin to be more constructive
in the ways that we manage our feelings and
behaviour and can take more control of our lives. It
can be a great relief and a source of strength to share
our difficulties, in confidence, with a trained and skilled
counsellor.
Our counsellors are all trained (or are in training) in
psychodynamic counselling to diploma level and
beyond and are experienced in a wide range of issues.
All our counsellors have regular supervision not just as
a BACP requirement but to ensure the standard of
counselling at The Counselling Centre is maintained at
the highest level. They abide by the BACP ethical
framework for good practice in counselling and
psychotherapy.
Brief-focussed counselling
This counselling is suitable for you if you have a
particular issue to focus on which can be worked with
over a period up to 12 sessions.
Consultation/Supervision
For counsellors and workers in the caring professions.
The cost of counselling
We are a self-financing, non-profit making charity with
the aim of offering affordable counselling. To enable
us to do this we operate a sliding scale of fees up to a
maximum of £45.00 and we have lower fees for people
who are unemployed or in very difficult financial
positions.
The fee that you will pay is negotiated at the first
session with your counsellor.
In recognition of the commitment that both parties
make to the counselling process and to maintain
continuity, the session-time will be held throughout the
on-going work and the weekly fee will normally be
payable whether or not you are able to attend.
Making an appointment
Clients may come to The Counselling Centre via their
GP surgery, the recommendation of friends or they
may refer themselves. The Counselling Centre is
committed to working within a framework of equal
opportunities and we offer alternative premises for
anyone with physical disability, as the agency does
not have disabled access.
We are not a drop-in centre, but appointments can be
made either by telephone or email. We will deal with
all enquiries promptly and with complete
confidentiality. There will be someone to take your call
personally between 10.00am and 3.00pm
Monday to
Friday. There is a confidential line with an
answerphone to take your message at other times and
your call will be returned on the next working day.
Telephone: 01892 548750, or email the administrator
at [email protected].
The assessment appointment
In response to your request an assessment (for
counselling) appointment will be offered to discuss
your needs. You will be asked to confirm your
attendance by returning a one-off payment, details of
which will be given to you at the time of your enquiry.
A personal questionnaire will be sent to you. You are
invited to fill in your basic details and to complete as
much of the rest of the form as you wish.
You will meet with an experienced assessment
counsellor to explore the kind of help you are seeking
and need and you can decide with this counsellor
whether counselling here is appropriate for you. This
session usually lasts between 1 – 1½ hours. Should it
become apparent in the consultation that some other
form of assistance may be more beneficial we will do
our best to recommend an alternative agency. The
financial contribution for your on-going counselling will
be discussed at the initial appointment. If, after the
first meeting, it is agreed that counselling is the most
appropriate form of help for you, arrangements will be
made for you to meet your own counsellor at The
Counselling Centre for weekly 50 minute sessions.
There may be a short wait before on-going counselling
commences.
Confidentiality
All information disclosed to a counsellor is kept in strict
confidence by the professional counselling division of
the agency. Your counsellor will aim to work with you
to provide quality care that is respectful of your
capacity for self-determination and the trust that you
share with your counsellor. Confidentiality may be
limited when there is a real risk of you posing serious
harm to yourselves or others. Your counsellor will
encourage you to seek appropriate help for yourself for
your particular circumstance. In extreme
circumstances The Counselling Centre may seek help
on your behalf to protect you or others from harm.
Wherever possible this will be discussed with you in
advance.
How to find us
We are a main provider of
affordable BACP
accredited counselling
a safe place to talk
01892 548750
The Counselling Centre
St George’s Centre, 7 Chilston Road
Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9LP
[email protected]
www.thecounsellingcentre.org.uk
Charity No 1039911
Company Registered No. 2757675