Overview
What is counselling?
Counselling helps you explore your feelings and relationships and look at issues in more depth. This can help reduce distress or anxiety so that you can gain more confidence. Counselling is not about giving you advice, telling you what to do or making a judgement about you.
What is the Helping Groups to Grow Counselling Service?
The Helping Groups to Grow Counselling Service is funded by the Welsh Government and is free to service users engaged with the substance misuse services in the welsh counties of Carmarthen, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys.
The Counselling Service offers six counselling sessions. It is expected that the counselling sessions will be used for clients to explore any underlying issues that might be impacting on their substance misuse and not necessarily the alcohol or drug problems directly.
Who are the Helping Groups to Grow Counsellors?
They are a team of experienced counsellors working in the Dyfed-Powys area. All counsellors are British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP), The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) or British Psychological Society (BPS) members and abide by their codes of conduct.
What can I speak with a counsellor about?
Essentially you can talk to a counsellor about any personal or emotional difficulties that may be concerning you. Here are some:
- Depression and anxiety
- Bereavement/loss
- Relationships
- Sexual identity
- Suicidal feelings
Counselling is confidential. Counsellors will not talk to anyone else about you or your situation unless you ask them to do so or unless they are concerned about your own or someone else’s safety. Certain information may need to be shared with your referring agency. This will be explained to you when you first meet your counsellor.
Where will the counselling take place?
This will usually be the building where you are seeing your key worker. This will be confirmed by your counsellor when they contact you for your first session.
How often will the sessions happen and how long will they be?
Sessions are weekly and are 50 minutes in length. We provide 6 sessions.
How can I access the Counselling Service?
Referrals can only be made through one of the substance misuse services. Once this has been done, a counsellor will then make contact to arrange your first appointment where you will set the goals you and your counsellor can work on together.
Click here for a copy of the Referral form.
Click here for a copy of the latest Structured Counselling Service report.
What if I am not happy with the Counselling Service?
We hope that everyone will find the service beneficial. However, if there any concerns with the service, you can speak with the Counselling Service Co-ordinator for Helping Groups to Grow.
The following websites may be helpful if you wish to find more information about counselling.
For any queries regarding the service please contact:
Val Taylor, Counselling Co-ordinator at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Young People’s Counselling
Helping Groups to Grow Young People’s Counselling Service
Helping Groups to Grow Counselling Team includes counsellors with specific training in and experience of working with young people, which means we can support the 8 - 18 age group and also those young people who are in transition between children’s and adult’s services. Referrals from this client group are always dealt with as quickly as possible.
The focus of the counselling is not on the substance misuse but on the underlying issues which the young client may be experiencing. These underlying issues can be quite complex with this age group.
Referral
We work alongside SUDDS, the young person’s service, so we would expect all clients to have been referred to SUDDS for specialist assessment. Referrals can be made in consultation with the SUDDS key worker at any time using the Referral Form. This form can be freely photocopied, or additional copies can be obtained by contacting the counselling co-ordinator at Helping Groups to Grow.
It is difficult to outline specific issues which may be affecting young people. If agencies wish to discuss the appropriateness of a referral they are welcome to telephone the counselling co-ordinator at Helping Groups to Grow. The client’s name need not be given at this stage, so confidentiality will be preserved.
Supporting Families – “Hidden Harm”
Helping Groups to Grow provides structured counselling support for young people referred to Carmarthenshire County Council’s ‘Hidden Harm’ initiative. Counselling support is provided as part of the Hidden Harm Initiative for individuals who may not attend substance misuse services, for example, young women who are pregnant, young carers. Up to 12 structured counselling sessions are offered across the whole region by qualified team of counsellors. A dedicated team of counsellors work very closely with all the other agencies involved with these clients. Counsellors attend inter-agency meetings and training events. All counselling is evaluated using the Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation (CORE) tool. Progress throughout the counselling can then be monitored and feedback can be given to the agencies involved.