Our Counselling Service is by referral appointments only. If you’d like to refer yourself for Counselling then please fill out our online referral form using this link. The form will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. We are currently offering appointments online (which includes both video and telephone) and face to face (both at our Uxbridge and High Wycombe campus).

Once we have received your online referral, we will put you on our assessment waiting list and as soon as an appointment with one of our counsellors becomes available we will be in contact. Most people are offered an appointment within 4 weeks, but it may be longer depending on how busy the service is.

If you have any questions or any problems with the form then please email us or you can visit us at the High Wycombe Campus in N1.12G and we will do our best to assist you.

Whilst you wait for an appointment, if you’re in emotional distress or struggling to cope and need immediate support, these organisations offer a 24/7 service:

• Togetherall - Use your BNU student email to register.
• Samaritans - Phone free on 116 123 or email: jo@samaritans.org
• Call 111 to access the NHS Mental Health Line
• Text SHOUT to 85258 for Mental Health Support
• Text HECTOR to 85258 for Suicidal Thoughts/Ideation Support
• Or call 999 if you are in immediate danger

Emergency Services

Remember, in an emergency call 999 – if you need to reach the emergency services for any other purpose, please use the numbers below.

• Thames Valley Police - Call: 0845 850 5505
• High Wycombe Hospital - Call: 01494 526 161
• NHS Direct - 24-hour nurse helpline. Call: 0845 46 47

General Counselling

• Counselling Directory: Through the Counselling Directory, you can find private counsellors and psychotherapists near you, as well as information and articles on the different types of counselling available, and articles around specific topics including depression, anxiety, abuse and relationship issues.
• Chiltern Samaritans: Chiltern Samaritans is a 24-hour confidential emotional support for anyone in crisis. Call the national 24-hour helpline: 08457 909 090.
• Marlow Pastoral Foundation: Counselling around relationship difficulties, sexual and physical abuse, mental health, bereavement and other emotional problems. Call the 01494 440199 number for ‘South Bucks Counselling’. Office hours are Monday to Friday 9am-9pm.

General Advice and Support

• Citizens Advice Bureau: Visit the Citizens Advice Bureau website or call 01494 449 805.
• Youth Enquiry Service: Information, advice, counselling and support for young people including advice about rights, accommodation, money problems, relationships and pregnancy. There is a sexual health service here and you can access the accommodation register and rent deposit guarantee scheme (for people aged 18+). Call 01494 437373.

Mental Health Support

• Healthy Minds
• Mental Health support and NHS Talking Therapies in Buckinghamshire
• Saneline
• Coping with mental illness, call 0171 724 8000
• The Dove Centre (Aylesbury), call 01296 393 831 or email: dovecentre@bucksmind.org.uk
• The Wycombe Counselling Service (High Wycombe), email: wcs@bucksmind.org.uk

Sexual Health and Abuse Support

• Wycombe Rape Crisis (Counselling and support for female survivors of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse) Call 01494 513 823 or access the 24-hour helpline at 01494 462 222
• Brook helpline (Sexual health information and support) - call 0800 0185 023
• Careline (24-hour help on mistreatment or abuse) - call 0800 137 915
• British Pregnancy Advisory Service - call 0845 730 4030
• LIFE (Pregnancy and abortion counselling) - call 01494 448 544
• Sexwise helpline - call 0800 282 930
• Family Planning Clinic (High Wycombe) - call 01494 526 161
• No Excuse for Abuse, Domestic and Sexual Abuse Support Services for Male and Female Survivors. E: info@noisno.org.uk , W: https://noisno.org.uk/

Addictions

• Alcoholics Anonymous (Thames and Chiltern) - call 01628 530 055 or access the 24-hour helpline at 07000 121 200
• Gamblers Anonymous - call 020 7384 3040
• Frank - National Drug Helpline - call 0800 776 600
• Stop smoking helpline - call 0800 022 4 332

Bereavement

• Cruse Bereavement Care - call 01494 722 515 (High Wycombe) or call 01494 511 117 (Chilterns)

LGBT Support and Advice

• Stonewall - The lesbian, gay and bisexual charity with advice on coming out, discrimination, rights, and support networks Call the information line on 08000 50 20 20 (Mon-Fri 9:30am to 5:30pm)

Other support services

• Eating Disorders Association
• B-Rat provides a helpline for adults and young people, online support and a UK wide network of self-help groups to help people beat their eating disorders. Call B-Eat for adults on 0845 634 1414
• Victim Support - Support and Advice for any victim of a crime, call 0845 30 30 900

Counsellors are allocated on the basis of the availability you provided in your referral form, once we have an available appointment we will offer you a counselling assessment. The aim of the counselling assessment is for your counsellor to get an overview of you; your reasons for counselling and generally to get to know a little more about you and how we may be able to help you. We are currently piloting new ways of delivering counselling, as we are mindful that having one type of counselling approach may not benefit all our client’s need. Our objective is to reduce waiting times for students who have referred themselves for counselling support, and to work more efficiently with the different needs of students accessing our service in order to empower and better support them.

Once you have attended a Counselling assessment with us, the two ways we will be delivering Counselling is:

One session at a time counselling: Here a client and their counsellor will focus on finding a solution to a problem. It involves exploring any emotional difficulties the client brings and developing an individually tailored action plan to respond to them. The client will then go away and work through this plan. Clients have the option to re-refer themselves back to their counsellor a minimum of four weeks later, after working through their action plan, if they feel they need further support. 

Or

Six session block counselling: Here we work with a single block of six allocated sessions to explore any emotional difficulties a client is presently facing.

It is worth noting that both approaches aim to help alleviate emotional difficulties; increase your self-awareness and to empower you.

We would always encourage you to also let your GP know the difficulties you are experiencing in case they are able to offer further support.

All counselling sessions last for 50 minutes, please arrive on time as your counsellor will be working to an appointment system, so if you arrive late your session will have to be cut short. If you can’t keep an appointment please give us at least 24 hours’ notice if possible, so that someone else can have that appointment time. If you don’t let us know then we will count the missed session as a full session, and you may have to wait for another one depending on availability.

• High Wycombe Campus: Monday to Friday: 9.15am, 10.30am, 11.30am, 2pm and 3pm.
• Uxbridge Campus (room 0.10): Mondays to Friday: 9:15am, 10:30am, 11:30am 2pm and 3pm.

Discussions in sessions will be kept confidential but our Counsellors do have a legal limitation to disclose any information where you or other people are at immediate risk or danger. If this situation ever arises then your Counsellor will talk through everything with you prior to any disclosures.

Confidentiality is key to the counselling process, the information you give us in your initial referral form will be used to make sure we run the Counselling Service as efficiently as possible. We make brief notes at the end of each session which remain confidential and stored securely.

All counsellors have a supervisor who monitors the quality of their work, supervision is carried out in a confidential way, and we do everything to make sure you receive the best possible professional care at all times.

The Counselling Service team consists of:

• Accredited Counsellors
• Qualified Counsellors and Psychotherapists
• Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Therapists