The aim of our counselling service is to give you the opportunity to reflect on what’s going on in your life. Counselling can be particularly helpful for carers, as you may often find yourself in situations where your own needs and wishes come second to those of the person you care for.
VOCAL’s counselling service is recognised by COSCA (Scotland’s professional body for counselling and psychotherapy) and our counsellors work according to COSCA’s Statement of Ethics and Code of Practice. Our counsellors are all qualified or in their final year of training, and receive regular supervision. They have been selected to work with VOCAL as they have a particular understanding of carers’ needs.
What to expect from counselling:
- Sessions are 50 minutes long, once a week
- You’ll see the same counsellor each time
- You can receive up to 12 sessions
- Your sessions can be face to face (at one of our Carer Hubs), over the phone, or via video call
In your sessions, you can discuss:
- Your thoughts and feelings about your situation
- How to deal with your feelings
- Your relationship with the person you care for and others
- How you might deal with things differently in the future
How to access our counselling service:
Get started by contacting our Carer Support Team. If appropriate, they can refer you for counselling and arrange an intake appointment. This appointment allows us to determine if counselling is right for you at this time.
If you are referred for counselling, you will be placed on the waiting list – your Carer Support Practitioner (CSP) can advise how long the waiting list is currently.
If counselling isn’t right for you, your CSP can provide you with alternative support, such as:
- An Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP)
- Practical advice for your caring situation
- Access to peer support groups, training courses, and our Wee Breaks service
Is there a cost for counselling?
We ask clients to make a meaningful but manageable financial contribution for each counselling session. However, being unable to make a donation will not affect your ability to access counselling.
Your level of contribution will be discussed and agreed during your intake appointment, and will be based on your individual circumstances and what feels manageable for you. If your financial situation changes, you can adjust your level of contribution at any time by speaking to your counsellor.
All contributions go towards maintaining VOCAL’s counselling service.
Starting your counselling sessions?
If you have already been referred for counselling, find out more below about how to access video and telephone calls, how to set up regular donations, and other organisations you can contact if you need further help.
I’m already a counselling client
Need to reschedule a session or make a payment? Call 0808 196 6666 (option 3) or email: .
I’m a counselling student seeking a placement
We are currently not accepting student placement applications due to high demand. We are best suited as a second placement and placements with VOCAL require:
- At least Year 2 of a COSCA or BACP accredited diploma
- 150+ post-qualification hours for qualified volunteers
Please check the volunteering opportunities page on our website for future opportunities.
Carer feedback
“I’ve found the counselling sessions I’ve had far more useful than I ever thought I would find them – I feel like I am much better at recognising my feelings, and coping with them, and have come a long way since my first session. My counsellor has been absolutely brilliant and has helped me work through (and make sense of!) a lot of my issues and feelings.”
“I am so thankful to my counsellor for her highly professional and supportive counselling, she’s been thoughtful, understanding, very kind and compassionate. And we laughed too! I felt truly “heard” while going through it and it really helped me at a time when I needed it. Counselling felt like a huge leap of faith for me and really was outside my comfort zone but I’m so grateful I did it and that I had my counsellor there to “catch” me. VOCAL is a wonderful organisation and my counsellor is an absolutely fantastic part of it.”
“The counselling available through VOCAL offers an invaluable support mechanism for carers. All those involved in the counselling service were highly supportive and professional. Thank you.”
“I have benefited greatly from the sessions and my counsellor has been very helpful, professional and respectful with me during my sessions.”
“Since being supported by my counsellor from VOCAL I have been able to be more understanding of who I am as a person. Caring full time and dealing with all other aspects of life at the same time now feel more manageable and a lot less overwhelming. Having someone listen to me and not judge me is very powerful and I feel my counsellor knows me now better than anyone. I cannot thank you enough for being there when I least realised I needed support.”
