What is counselling?
Counselling is a type of talking therapy in which a counsellor provides a safe and supportive environment for an individual to explore their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Through active listening, empathy and understanding, the counsellor helps people to gain insight into their challenges, develop coping strategies, and make positive changes in their lives.
Devon Mind is a registered member of the BACP: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. We have a team of qualified staff counsellors (Level 4 and above), plus a number of qualified volunteer counsellors and counsellors-in-training (working towards their Level 4 awards).
Our counselling service is dedicated to providing support and assistance to individuals facing various challenges in their lives. However, it is important to note that it is not equipped to address acute mental health crises, current domestic violence situations, or cases of historic sexual abuse. We believe in the importance of transparency and want to ensure that individuals seeking help understand the limitations of our service.
Counselling costs:
We provide affordable, high-quality counselling services tailored to meet your specific individual needs.
Initial Assessment: £15 (this is refunded to you if you do not proceed to counselling after the assessment)
Counselling Sessions: £37.50 per session
We can offer up to 20 weeks of counselling, but the right number of sessions for you will be discussed with your counsellor. Each session lasts 50 minutes.
Please note: This is not a crisis service. If you are in need of urgent or out-of-hours support, please refer to our Helpline page for a list of contacts.
Register for counselling:
To access our counselling service, please complete the form below. Once you complete the form below, a member of the team will be in contact with you to arrange an initial assessment. Can’t see the registration form below? Click here to view our backup registration form »
All information submitted is stored securely and not shared with any third parties. By submitting a form, you agree to the terms of our Privacy Policy.
Counselling testimonials:
“My counsellor came into my world at a time when I really needed her. She was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it... I learnt so much about myself, and she helped me to feel calm at a very difficult time in my life. The skills she gave me to think about my life in a positive, calm way will continue to help me in the future. [My counsellor] helped me to realise why I felt like I did, and that much of that was due to experiences in the past and that a lot of that has been out of my control. I will always be so grateful to have met such a wonderful person. Going forward, I have been able to lose a lot of what was causing me problems, knowing why this happened and how to deal with it. Thank you for everything.”
“My counsellor was absolutely amazing, very kind and listened extremely well. I felt very comfortable and able to say a lot. The service ran efficiently and was effective in helping me on my journey to be in a better place mentally. Thank you to [my counsellor] and Devon Mind!”
“My counsellor provided me with a safe space where I could share freely. He was kind, caring, and showed me respect and validation for all that I spoke to him about. I felt that he was always fully present in our sessions, and he enabled me to feel seen. I am very grateful to him for his time and compassion.”
“Thank you, Devon Mind, for this amazing service, and thank you to [my counsellor] for your counselling advice and structure; for walking alongside me and helping me to process and understand my feelings and worries. I am particularly grateful for your well-timed interventions and for reminding me how well I am/have done and how far I have come...”
“My counsellor has helped me get through a really difficult time. Her warmth and kindness really shone through, and I felt seen and heard. I felt comfortable talking about things I’ve not discussed before. There was no judgment, just support and understanding.”
“I feel very happy with my time with my counsellor, he was great and really helped me in ways I never thought I needed. It’s helped me so much more than therapy in the past, and I feel like he is a credit to Mind. [My counsellor] is professional, knowledgeable and made me feel comfortable… I felt like I learned so much, and I am forever grateful.”
“I really enjoyed the sessions with my counsellor, always looked forward to them, and I feel they helped me immensely with things I have been struggling with over the past few months. There was a lot of growth during the period, and I felt very supported, understood, and empowered to explore everything and anything I had on my mind.”
“Life-changing! This is my second round of counselling, and I honestly can’t express how much of a difference these sessions have made to my wellbeing and overall life. I’ve felt incredibly supported every step of the way—never judged, always heard. My counsellor created such a warm, open space where I’ve been able to talk through the tough stuff and actually work through it. I’m so grateful for this experience. Thank you—you’ve made a real impact on my life.”
Frequently asked questions:
Check out the answers to some common questions below. If you want to ask something else, please contact us.
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Counselling provides the space and time to think and talk about things that matter to you. People find it helpful for different reasons. For example, it can:
• Help you talk about something difficult that you’ve never shared before
• Enable you to explore parts of yourself and your relationships, and help you make sense of them
• Give you the opportunity to let out stress and teach you how to cope better
•Just provide comfort that someone is there for you
• Serve as a safe place to work things outCounselling isn’t about the counsellor giving you all the answers — rather, it’s about them supporting you as you find your own solutions, and helping to build your confidence and self-esteem.
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There may be occasions when counselling does not meet your current needs. We explore all available options as part of our assessment process. We also provide other services which we may recommend.
Some examples of when counselling may be unsuitable include:
• People who are at current risk of suicide — if you are having active thoughts about suicide and you are planning how to do it, there is help available.
• People who are self-harming and require medical attention
• People with complex or severe mental health diagnoses
• People experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• People who have had little benefit from many different therapies over a long period of time
• People who present themselves as a risk to themselves or others
• People who are currently receiving therapy from another person or service -
We will contact you to arrange an initial meeting with a staff counsellor. This is an opportunity to discuss your registration, update any details that may have changed since registration, and ask any questions you may have.
If after this initial meeting counselling is deemed appropriate for your needs, a counsellor will be assigned to you and they will contact you to arrange your first appointment. This is called an assessment session (which is free) and is different from any subsequent counselling sessions. This session, which will last around 50 minutes, is an opportunity for you and the counsellor to decide if you will work together. If the counsellor feels that you need to be referred to a more experienced counsellor within the team, they will discuss this with you.
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At Devon Mind, we can offer up to 20 sessions of counselling. However, we assess this on a case-by-case basis to ensure we are meeting your needs. Some people may need more sessions and others can benefit from fewer.
Counselling sessions are commonly delivered weekly, but can be fortnightly if this works better for you. Each session is 50 minutes in length.
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A counsellor will contact you 2-3 weeks prior to allocation to undertake an initial assessment to determine suitability for our counselling service. We will try and contact you initially by phone and if unsuccessful we will email you to try and arrange the initial assessment appointment, so please keep an eye on your email inbox, including the spam folder.
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Currently, we are able to offer in-person counselling in Plymouth only. We also offer online and telephone counselling for people who live outside of Plymouth.
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We have qualified staff counsellors who have completed a minimum Level 4 Diploma in Counselling and have many years of experience. All our staff counsellors are registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) or the National Counselling Society (NCS). As well as staff counsellors, our counselling team also includes qualified volunteer counsellors and counsellors-in-training (working towards their Level 4 award).
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Your initial assessment session is £15. If you do not proceed to counselling, then this is refunded to you. We then charge £37.50 per counselling session.
Each counselling session we deliver costs Devon Mind just over £60 — this includes staff costs, insurance costs, supervision for our counsellors, and building costs (rent, lighting, heating, etc.). We also cover the costs of annual BACP registration and supervision for our counsellors and we need to make sure they can access ongoing continuing professional development training, which is a requirement of their role.
Devon Mind fundraises annually to ensure we can continue to deliver a counselling service, but this only covers around 50% of the costs, which is why we have to ask people to pay a reduced charge of £37.50 per session. We are always looking for additional funding to cover these costs, and when we have this, we will always offer free sessions when we can.
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We will provide you with a small pack so that you have all the information you need. This includes practical information about what you need to do if you have to cancel a session, how you can pay for your sessions, and information on data protection and your privacy rights. We will also outline what forms we would like you to complete to help us evaluate how impactful our counselling service is and what we can do better.
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We request that people have a minimum 2-month gap from their last counselling intervention, before registering for Devon Mind counselling.