Low Cost Counselling

We strive to offer high-quality counselling that is realistically affordable for you, taking into account your income and financial situation. During your initial consultation, we will discuss and agree on a fee that fits within your budget, aiming to ensure that cost is not a barrier to receiving the support you need. The lowest fee currently is £20.

The initial consultation has a non-refundable fee of £60 if you are employed or £30 if you are on a low income or unemployed. Please call the office if you believe that the above fees are unmanageable due to your financial circumstances.

The assessment appointment is where you will discuss with a counsellor your reasons for seeking help and if at the end both you and the counsellor agree we are the right service for you, we will place you on our waiting list for counselling. It is an opportunity for you to give us your up-to-date availability and your counsellor preferences.

The assessment appointment is 1hr – 1hr 30mins.

Please fill in the referral form. Assessments are charged at a flat fee of £60, this payment will be taken at the point of booking over the phone.

Our wait time after your assessment appointment is 10 – 12 weeks. Due to exceptionally high demand for evening and Saturday appointments, there is currently an extended waiting time for these specific time slots. We match counsellors based on your availability and preferences, however if you are only able to commit to a limited timeframe, it will take longer for you to be placed.

Every person that we see must be discussed and agreed with our clinical team, if we do not feel we are the right service to support you, we will signpost you to other services.

Once you are offered a start date for counselling, your sessions will take place with the same counsellor, every week on the same day and at the same time.

Yes, our policy is to charge for all missed or cancelled sessions. As a small charity, we rely on the income we receive from regular counselling fees. As is standard practice, we therefore charge for all missed sessions. Very occasionally we can make exceptions at the discretion of the Clinical Services Manager. Please discuss with your counsellor if you think this applies to you.

Yes, the WCC team is made up of qualified counsellors and trainee counsellors who are undertaking accredited courses. All trainee counsellors are supervised in- house by accredited supervisors.

If you feel the counsellor allocated to you is not a good match, we encourage you to discuss this with your counsellor. If you feel this is not resolved, you can request to be seen by a different counsellor by contacting the office.

As a client of Waterloo Community Counselling you are entitled to receive a copy of an attendance letter with the details of your sessions with us. You are also entitled to receive a copy of assessment notes, if you were offered one by our service.

We charge £18 for a copy of attendance letters.

If you would like to receive a copy of these documents please contact the admin team on info@waterloocc.co.uk

As a small charity, we focus our resources on providing counselling and psychotherapy, not benefits advice/support. We therefore cannot provide Letters of Support for benefits applications/PIP.

WCC can provide a standardised Attendance Letter on request. 

WCC is committed to maintaining the highest levels of confidentiality. The exceptions to this policy will be if we believe the health and safety of someone is at risk, or if we are legally obliged to disclose material. In such circumstances our commitment is always to discuss the situation with you and decide together the next step forward.

There are also a few conditions from WCC:

• Most courses require trainees to work with a qualified and experienced counsellor. To meet this expectation, we have a minimum fee of £40 per session.
• When completing the referral form, please state clearly that you are a trainee counsellor and list any specific requirements your course has for therapy, as we may not be able to meet all of them.

Providing this information upfront helps us confirm whether we can meet your needs from the start.