Counselling and psychotherapy for adults in Shrewsbury — individual, couples and online. No GP referral, no six-month waiting list, and no need for the problem to be “big enough”.
What is said here stays between you and your counsellor, and that holds after the work ends. The few limits to it are explained at the first session.
Four calm questions. From your answers we suggest a way of working from what we offer, say what a first session looks like, work out a rough cost from the published fees and fill in the booking form. It takes under a minute and nothing is sent anywhere.
The guide needs JavaScript switched on. If yours is off, no matter — write us a few lines in the booking form or ring 01632 960245 and we will work out the right format together.
The reasons people around Shrewsbury and the rest of Shropshire most often come to us. It is not a list of conditions — if none of it sounds like you and something is still not right, get in touch anyway.
A racing heart in the supermarket, dreading the drive, not sleeping, avoiding places and people. Anxiety can be worked with, even when it feels like it is running you.
Arguments that go round in circles and always end the same way. Drifting apart after years. Deciding whether to stay. An affair nobody has said out loud yet.
Getting up is hard and switching off at night is harder. Work that used to matter feels pointless. Burnout is not something a weekend puts right.
A death, a miscarriage, a separation, the end of something that held life together. Grief is not a fault to be removed — the work is making it bearable.
For when Shrewsbury is an hour away or the shifts rotate. We work by video call, including after seven in the evening; the format and the boundaries are exactly as they are in the room.
For people who find a silence easier on the move than in an armchair. An hour on the paths above the town, off the waymarked routes — you will hardly meet anybody.
Nobody is going to ask you to sign up for a year. The first two steps cost nothing and commit you to nothing.
The form on this page, or the phone. A few lines are enough; you do not have to tell the whole story. We reply within two working days.
a few minutesFifteen minutes to hear who you would be talking to and ask anything you like. If we think somebody else would help you more, we will say so and suggest a colleague.
15 minutes · freeThe next free slot is usually 10 to 14 days away, and sooner for online. After that the time is held for you and nobody else.
within a fortnightGetting the picture. No tests, no questionnaires, no advice after five minutes. We work out what brings you and what would need to change.
50 or 80 minutesAt the end of the first or second session we say out loud what we are working on, how often we will meet, and how we will know it has helped.
togetherEvery ten sessions we ask whether this still makes sense. Ending is something to talk about rather than run from — and of course you can stop whenever you want.
usually once a weekWe opened in 2019, because the nearest free counselling appointment in the county was six months away. We stay small on purpose — while we still remember every client’s name, it works.
A psychology degree, a completed four year training in gestalt psychotherapy, and four years in an NHS mental health service before opening the practice here in 2019. Registered and accredited with the BACP, in monthly clinical supervision.
Trained in group and community psychotherapy and finishing a training in cognitive behavioural therapy. Seven years in practice. Twelve years as a production supervisor before that — which is why people who arrive burnt out from a factory floor, expecting not to be understood, find that they are.
A separate door at the side of the building, so you meet nobody in a waiting room. Free parking in front and step-free access.
Judge a counsellor on the register, the training and the free call. Not on testimonials, which the people best placed to give them should never be asked for.
We do not publish testimonials. Asking somebody you are working with for a public quote puts them in an impossible position, and the BACP Ethical Framework takes a dim view of it. Nobody here will ever be asked.
Check the register instead. Anybody can search the BACP register online. Registration means accredited training, an ethical framework, insurance and monthly supervision — ask any counsellor for their membership number and look it up before you book.
If you need somebody now, do not wait for us. Samaritans answer on 116 123, free, any hour of any day. For urgent mental health help ring NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. If a life is in danger, ring 999 or go to A&E. You can also text SHOUT to 85258.
The simplest thing is the form beside this — we reply within two working days. If you would rather talk, ring while the phone is being answered.
We reply within two working days and offer two specific times. It commits you to nothing and puts you on no list.
Most people who come to us had been thinking about it for more than a year first. It does not have to be like that.