Counselling

Who is the counselling service for?

For anyone over 16, male or female who needs counselling, who experienced any form of abuse as a child or young person under the age of 16, and where and therapeutic support may help.

What is counselling?

Counselling is a partnership between counsellor and client, who meet in a confidential setting to explore a difficulty or distress the client is experiencing. It is always at the request of the client.

Is it confidential?

Our Counselling service is kept confidential within Hurting to Healing within the limits of UK law. We don’t write your name on any notes or records we write about you.
Your contact details are kept separately. There are some exceptions we might need to make to confidentiality:
If we had serious concerns that you were at risk of harming yourself, or someone else, or the protection of a child is at stake.
If there are particular concerns about the current protection of any children we may need to contact other agencies. Normally this would occur only after discussion and with the full agreement of the person concerned, but there may be exceptional circumstances where this is not possible. If our organisation is required to submit a client’s notes and records for a police investigation or court case. We have a legal obligation to comply with requests from the police and Crown Prosecution Service - and it is important that you are aware of this.

Will I be expected to tell my counsellor everything about me?

You do not have to tell the counsellor everything about you and your life. Some clients feel that having got this far they must now tell the counsellor everything all at once, others feel very anxious about disclosing painful secrets that they may never have told anyone before. We understand this, and it is important for the counsellor to help you to feel safe enough to disclose at a pace that enables you to manage daily life in the days between sessions. When you are ready, you will find it helpful to be as open with your counsellor as you can and your counsellor will help you with this. Your counsellor will often clarify, reflect comments back to you and encourage further exploration so that you both develop understanding of your situation today and when you were a child growing up.

How many counselling sessions will Hurting to Healing offer me?

Our statistics consistently show that the majority of our clients commit to counselling for around 24 weeks (6 months). Whenever possible, we want our service to meet the needs of all our clients, so your counsellor will review with you how you are getting on as your counselling progresses, at 3 months and 6 months, and when appropriate an ending of the work.

Some clients need more time and where this is the case, if you have been attending your sessions every week, the reviews will help your counsellor to decide with you whether ongoing counselling with H2H will be beneficial to your situation. If this seems appropriate, then an extension can be considered and a plan agreed for the next stage of the work.

If you are unable to maintain your commitment to weekly counselling, we will need to end our contract with you as we have long waiting lists and we need to make the best use of our volunteer counsellors' time and expertise.

These initial sessions will allow you to explore with your counsellor:

• Am I ready and able to make the commitment to attending counselling at the same time every week?
• Is this the right time in my life to experience counselling for childhood abuse?
• Is there anything that might get in the way of keeping this commitment every week?
• Do I feel comfortable enough with my counsellor & able to develop a trusting relationship with her or him over time?
• What am I hoping for from counseling?

If, by session 4, you’re not sure of answers to your questions or you’re just not sure, but want to keep on coming, that’s fine. We encourage you to talk to us about what’s going on for you. If you think that now is not the right time for counselling, for whatever reason, or you’re not settling with your counsellor, try and talk it through with her. If you feel you really can’t talk to your counsellor about any concerns, then ask to speak to Zoë Pool, the Hurting To Healing Service Director, who will be happy to talk to you about any concerns or questions.

How often would I be expected to come?

You would come to your counselling session every week. You can discuss holiday times or other essential absences with your counsellor in advance. Once the time for your counselling session is agreed with you and your counsellor, this will be your regular appointment time. Appointments last for 50 minutes.

Who are the counsellors?

All Hurting To Healing counsellors are volunteers, and are members of professional counselling or psychotherapy organisations. All practice within codes of ethics. All Hurting To Healing counsellors are either fully qualified counsellors or in the final stages of counselling training.
Hurting To Healing provides all counsellors with:
- Regular clinical supervision with an experienced Hurting to Healing supervisor
- Ongoing training & professional development for working therapeutically with survivors of childhood abuse

Equal Opportunities for diverse needs

Hurting To Healing has policies for anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice. We endeavour to meet diverse needs wherever possible. However, unfortunately, we do not have disabled access at Seaforth House. For those unable to attend Hurting To Healing in Parkstone, telephone or Skype counselling is a possibility where appropriate. If you have a special need or disability, please let us know so we can try to accommodate this.

What is the cost for counselling sessions at Hurting To Healing?

Hurting To Healing is a charity and relies on fund-raising to keep going. We do not have a set fee, as we want our services to be available to everyone who needs our help. 

It costs Hurting To Healing £65 per session to run our services, and if clients can afford to, we ask them to pay this fee.

Of course, we know that this amount is not affordable to everyone. However, our funders expect us to ask all our clients to pay something towards the counselling and therapy they receive from Hurting To Healing, according to what they can realistically afford to pay. There is also a fee of £10 for an initial assessment.

At your assessment we will ask you about your finances and your household income, a weekly payment for every session will then be agreed based on your means and genuine ability to pay. This can be reviewed at any time during counselling. Your payments can help you to value the commitment you are making to yourself and your recovery and helps Hurting To Healing to keep the service going. 

How do I pay?

You will be asked to give your payment to your counsellor at the beginning of each session. Your counsellor will give you a receipt and will pass on the money to Hurting To Healing administration. Client payments are vital to enable us to keep Hurting To Healing services running and will be reviewed regularly. If your circumstances change and you can contribute more, please discuss this with your counsellor. Or, if there is an occasion when you cannot afford your usual contribution, discuss the difficulty with your counsellor at your session to agree a satisfactory way forward.

Where does Hurting To Healing counselling take place?

Hurting To Healing counselling currently takes place at Seaforth House, 176 Bournemouth Road, Parkstone, BH14, 9HA. We also offer SKYPE/telephone counselling for clients who are unable to access our Parkstone service.

How can I apply?

If you feel that this service is for you, and that counselling can help you, then please call Hurting To Healing for an assessment application form. Contact:Tel 01202 732424 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

After you have completed this and returned to us, the administrator will contact you to offer you an assessment appointment.