FAQs

We have outlined below the answers to some of our most frequently asked questions. If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact us and we will be happy to help.

What is counselling and what kind of counselling does WPH offer?

Counselling offers a safe and non-judgemental space where you can talk about your feelings and any personal challenges you may be facing, with a trained counsellor. Counselling will give you the time and space to express your concerns and to better understand your emotions. It aims to help you identify strategies to manage your feelings and improve your overall wellbeing and mental health. We offer caring, compassionate and person-centred counselling using different types of therapy according to your individual needs. Sessions can take place face to face, over the telephone, or online through video counselling. Explore our Counselling Services  for more information.

Who can access WPH’s services?

Our services are available to all members of the community who meet our access criteria. Currently, individuals who use our services must be:

  • Registered with a Walsall GP
  • Aged 8–17 for Children and Young People, or 18+ for adult services
  • Experiencing mild/moderate mental health challenges
  • Open to working with a counsellor within counselling sessions

We support people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Wherever possible, sessions can be offered for those with additional needs.

Is there any cost for accessing WPH’s services?

Our services are free for members of the community to access. These free services are time-limited, short intervention services and must come to an end in line with our funding requirements. As a free service, we experience a high demand for our counselling sessions; therefore, there may be a waiting period before we are able to offer you an appointment. To find out more about our current waiting times, please contact us.

How long is a session and how many will I receive?

We provide a short-intervention service for those seeking support with their mental health. At present, we currently offer clients approximately 6 sessions of support with a trained counsellor, however this can vary slightly depending on the client’s needs. Each session typically lasts up to 50 minutes, with sessions usually taking place at regular intervals. We do not offer long-term counselling therapies; however, counsellors may be able to recommend other services or organisations that they feel may be able to offer you support moving forward.

Where do counselling sessions take place?

We offer counselling sessions face to face, over the telephone and remotely via video counselling. Our face-to-face sessions typically take place at our registered office (The Haven), or at one of our external locations within the Walsall area. The location and type of appointment you will receive will be discussed with you at the point of booking, to ensure that you can attend. We do not currently offer a home visit counselling service.

How do I make a referral, or refer myself, for counselling with WPH?

Our services are free for members of the community to access. These free services are time-limited, short intervention services and must come to an end in line with our funding requirements. As a free service, we experience a high demand for our counselling sessions; therefore, there may be a waiting period before we are able to offer you an appointment. To find out more about our current waiting times, please contact us. Individuals are currently able to self-refer to us if they feel that they would benefit from counselling and meet our access criteria . We are also able to take referrals from a wide range of professionals including, but not limited to, GPs and other healthcare professionals, mental health support teams, education professionals and community or social care professionals. If you have been referred by a professional for our services, they may feel that you would benefit from counselling support from us.

To self-refer yourself to us, or to make an enquiry regarding counselling, contact us to speak to a member of our friendly team. If you are a professional wishing to make a referral, please visit our Making a Referral page.

Will I see the same counsellor for each of my sessions?

Where possible, we try to ensure that you will work with one counsellor continuously for all of your sessions. If for any reason there will be a change in your counsellor, we will discuss this with you with as much notice as possible.

What happens if I miss a session?

We understand that sometimes life gets in the way and makes it difficult to attend sessions. We ask all clients to provide us with as much notice as possible if they need to rearrange a session, so that we can offer the slot to someone else. As a free service, when someone cancels or does not show up for an appointment, this puts a strain on the organisation and prevents another person waiting to access our services from being seen. Therefore, we do have guidance on cancellations and not attending sessions, which will be shared with you at your first session and within our client engagement pack. It may be that if you miss or cancel too many appointments, you may have to re-join our waiting list for another opportunity to engage in sessions with us at a later date.

What do you do with my information?

We provide a confidential service; all information that is shared with us within sessions will remain private and will not be shared with anyone else. There may be occasions where we must break confidentiality if we feel that you or another person is at risk of danger or harm; in these instances, we will discuss this with you wherever possible. These decisions will be taken in line with our confidentiality and safeguarding policies and we will always consider the needs of our clients.

As an organisation that is funded by others, we may use client data for statistical or reporting purposes to demonstrate the impact that the service is having in the community. In these instances, all information will be anonymised and will not contain anything identifiable.

All information that we hold will be retained and processed in line with our Data Protection and Retention Policies. If at any time you wish to access the information we hold about you, or would like us to share this with other professionals on your behalf, you can contact us to request this information. Please note that we will require proof of identification and signed consent to be able to release and share this information. To learn more about what we do with your data, please contact us for a copy of our Confidentiality and Data Protection Policies.

Are you able to support individuals with additional needs, such as those with disabilities or requiring interpreters?

Yes, we can often support those with additional needs to access our counselling services and our flexibility in appointment types means we can offer a range of counselling sessions to best meet the needs of different individuals. We can cater for those who require the use of a ground floor room due to accessibility requirements and can provide support within counselling sessions using qualified interpreters for individuals who have a first language that is not English, or for those who communicate using other methods, such as British Sign Language. To learn more about the support we can offer to those with additional needs, please contact us.

When I call, or receive a call from, WPH Counselling, the number is recognised as ‘Walsall Pregnancy Help’ – is this the same service?

Yes, WPH have a single, centralised telephone number for all your contact requirements (01922 649000). On some phones, however, our telephone number might still display as ‘Walsall Pregnancy Help’ from when this used to be our registered name. Please be assured, however, that even if you see this name displayed, whether you are calling us or we are calling you, that this is still the general WPH Counselling contact number.

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