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Counselling & Therapy

Safeline has a large team of counsellors and therapists, who work with adults and children aged 11 and upwards.  Our Dramatherapist can work with children from the age of 5.  We are able to offer counselling sessions for free and do not put a limit on the number of sessions that you have.  If you have questions about our counselling service then please contact us.

Counselling and how can it help you

If you have experienced rape or childhood sexual abuse or if this has happened to someone close to you, it may feel very difficult to talk to the people you see everyday about it.  This may be because your reactions are overwhelming or confusing, or because you want to protect others.  Coming to counselling  gives you a private and confidential space where you can talk to someone you can trust about your reactions, your thoughts, your feelings and your experiences.

Our research shows that after counselling, Safeline clients report an improvement in their health and well-being, feel more in control of their lives and more able to play an active role in the world.  Clients say that they feel hope for the future, discover an ability to move on from what happened or are able to become the person that they always wanted to be.

Having counselling at Safeline

If you think you would benefit from counselling at Safeline then you can self-refer to us by contacting one of our Helpline and Online advisers.  Our main office is in Warwick and we see clients at centres across Warwickshire and Coventry including Nuneaton, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth and Stratford-on-Avon.  We may be able to offer you counselling by telephone or online if you live further away, are not able to travel to one of our centres or have a disability.  We work with adults and children aged 11 upwards and have a diverse mix of clients who come from all backgrounds, races, classes and cultures.  They may have many different gender and sexual identities, religion or belief systems, disabilities and life experiences.

Different counselling and therapeutic approaches

When you come to Safeline for counselling, one of our Assessments Managers will meet with you to talk about your goals and expectations for counselling and discuss the type of counselling approach that is right for you.  We can offer:

Talking therapies

We have a large team of counsellors and are able to offer a range of different counselling approaches.  Some of our counsellors are trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and take a structured approach, others are Person-Centred Therapists who will give you space to explore your thoughts and feelings.

Dramatherapy

This is a unique psychological therapy that does not rely on ‘talking.’  The HCPC Registered Dramatherpist uses creativity & play to allow people to communicate and express their experiences, working towards their own healing and recovery. Dramatherapy can offer people an opportunity to rehearse different choices, roles, and ways to relate to others, in a safe environment.  You can work with our Dramatherapist one-to-one or in a group. You do not need any previous experience or skills in drama or the arts.  You can find out more about this type of therapy here: Dramatherapy

Sessions for Families

Some of our counsellors will invite you to work with another member of your family, for example a parent may want to have sessions alongside a child that has been abused.

Other services

Our assessment manager may also tell you about the other services at Safeline, such as ISVA (Independent Sexual Violent Advisors), or our Support groups.  It is your decision to use as many or as few of the Safeline services as you like.

Our counsellors

Our counsellors and therapists are all fully qualified or in the last year of their professional training.  We make sure they work to high professional standards set out by Safeline and to the codes of ethics set out by their professional bodies, such the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) or Health Care Professionals Council (HCPC).

All counsellors who join our team complete specialist training courses in working with survivors of rape and sexual abuse.  We make sure counsellors keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date by running additional training sessions at least four times a year on topics such as eating disorders, self-harm, and the neuroscience of trauma.  If you are a counsellor, you may like to find out more about joining our team.

Telephone & Online counselling

If you choose to have telephone counselling please make sure you have a space where you can use a telephone privately for the duration of your session.

For counselling via voice or video calls (similar to Skype), Instant Message or Email we use the Plus Guidance online counselling platform. This is because it offers a secure encrypted method of carrying out the counselling session and protects your privacy online.

If you decide to have online counselling with us we will send you all the information you need to get started and advisors can even talk you through the set up process. You will need:

* To be a confident computer user

* To have good reading and typing skills (for using email or Instant Message counselling)

* Internet access on a computer that you can use privately for the duration of your session

* The Google Chrome browser (this can be downloaded for free)

* A headset (if you are having voice or video sessions)

* A webcam (if you are having video sessions)

Confidentiality & Data Protection

All the information you give us will be kept confidential within our organisation unless:

* You give us permission to share information

* The information is requested by a court of law

* There is serious risk of harm to another person, for example, a serious crime being committed such as terrorism, fraud, or a child protection concern.

* There is serious risk of harm to yourself, for example, a plan to take your own life.

To ensure good practice, all our counsellors have regular management and clinical supervision where they discuss their counselling work on an anonymous basis. Safeline keep counselling notes of each counselling session, these are kept securely for a minimum of 7 years and these notes are kept separately from personally identifying information.

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