Leave this site

Counselling Service

A safe space for you to explore your experiences and receive therapeutic support.

Please note that our waiting list for therapy is currently closed. 

You can find out more here and if you are interested in accessing therapy via other services, consider these options.

What is our Counselling Service?

Our Counselling Service provides a safe and non-judgmental space for you to explore and understand your experiences and their impact on you, as well as receive therapeutic support around this.

In counselling you can be open and honest about your feelings in a way that isn’t always possible with friends, family and supporters.

Our Counselling Service is all about helping you to develop insights into the challenges that you are facing, and then supporting you to find your own resources and strengths to manage and overcome them. We seek to help and empower you to make your own choices and decisions.

Who is it for?

This Service is open to self-identified women and non-binary people aged 18+ years who live in Brighton & Hove, and who have experienced sexual violence, abuse and/or harassment, no matter when or how it happened.

It is also open to self-identified women and non-binary people aged 18+ years who live in Brighton & Hove, and who are a supporter of a survivor (such as partners, siblings and parents).

How do the sessions work?

Our Counselling Service is delivered by our fully accredited team of self-identified women therapists and counsellors.

The number of sessions we can offer each person depends on what your goals for therapy are, as well as the current capacity of our service.

We offer counselling sessions either online via a secure video platform or in-person at our Brighton office spaces.

We are committed to making this service accessible for disabled people. If you have any access or communications needs, please get in touch so that we can seek to accommodate them.

How do I access this service?

​You can either refer yourself to this service, or a referral can be made on your behalf and with your consent by a professional who is supporting you.

Find out more about making a referral here.

Our friendly Welcome Team will then allocate you to our Counselling Service waiting list. Please be aware that due to high demand the waiting list currently has an estimated 20 month wait.

Once your name reaches the top of the waiting list, we will contact you to arrange an assessment with one of our counsellors. This assessment is an opportunity for you to ask questions and share what has brought you to counselling, and for us to get relevant information. After this assessment process is completed a joint decision will be made about moving forward with counselling.

Further Information

Is this service confidential?toggle accordion content

Our Counselling Service is confidential*.

We understand that creating a safe therapeutic space relies on you being able to trust that whatever you talk about will be treated with sensitivity, respect and confidentiality.

All our counsellors have regular supervision with an independent supervisor, where they may discuss the clients that they are supporting. This is also a confidential relationship.

*It may be necessary to break confidentiality and share information where there is a serious risk of harm to a particular person or persons or to the safety and well-being of the organisation. If possible, we will always discuss this with you first, and encourage you to participate in any further action taken. For more information, please see our relevant policies regarding confidentiality, data protection and supporting suicidal survivors here.

Is this service confidential if I intend to report to the police?toggle accordion content

If you have an open police case, or are considering reporting your experience to the police, we will follow a pre-trial protocol. This means that there will be limitations to the confidentiality that we can offer in order to protect you in the event of any investigation or court case. Please let us know if you would like more information about this.

Do I have to pay for this service?toggle accordion content

Our Counselling Service is donation-based but we do not operate under a sliding, means tested scale. This means you will only contribute if you can and you will be the person making a decision about this. Please let us know if you would like more information about this.

Need more information about this service?toggle accordion content

For more information please contact our Adult Therapeutic Services Manager, Tania on counselling@survivorsnetwork.org.uk or call 01273 203380.