If you cannot accept this appointment you will be offered an alternative appointment. If you cannot commit to any of these appointments you will be discharged from the counselling service’s waiting list back to your GP. If, after beginning your counselling you do not attend for two weeks without giving notice then your remaining sessions will be cancelled so that another patient can take the space.

If your GP made an ‘urgent’ referral to counselling we would offer you our first available appointment. If you are unable to take this appointment we would place you back on the waiting list as a ‘regular’ referral and you would be allocated an appointment in order of your referral date.

For people who may need more than 6 counselling sessions, we offer an 8-week Mindfulness Course or 20-week Group Therapy. Your GP and/or your counsellor may discuss the suitability for the Group Therapy or for the Mindfulness course.

WHAT YOU MUST NOW DO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PLACED ON THE COUNSELLING WAITING LIST:

• Send an email to the counselling administrator at Swlicb.Counsellingteam@nhs.net with your full name so that you can be placed on the waiting list and contacted with an appointment date.
• If you do not have access to an email you can call 020 8394 5469 and leave a message on the answerphone with your full name and a telephone number which you wish to be contacted on.
• We will aim to contact you within 2-3 weeks. If you have not heard from us after 3 weeks please email us back or call us on 020 8394 5469 to discuss this further.
• Confidentiality: Normally counselling sessions are confidential and the content stays with you and your counsellor.

There are two exceptions to this:

• As a matter of professional ethics, your counsellor may from time to time seek consultation for their work from a qualified counselling supervisor who is bound by the same code of ethics as your counsellor.
• If you and/or your counsellor think that there may be a risk of harm to yourself and/or other person/s, then the counsellor will consult with other members of the clinical team at the surgery. In the rare case when the risk of harm is considered to be serious other professionals may be contacted. This would be discussed with you.