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Heads Together Counselling

Heads Together is YMCA East Surrey’s confidential counselling service for young people. We provide free counselling to 11-17 year olds in partnership with Mindworks Surrey and also to young adults aged 18-24 (up to 25th birthday) in various locations across East Surrey. We can offer face-to-face or virtual counselling sessions to suit you.

We aim to help young people to cope with difficult emotional, family or personal circumstances, enabling them to lead fuller and more satisfying lives. We are staffed by qualified counsellors and counsellors in training and are supported by experienced supervisors.

Why Heads Together?

Sometimes life can be really difficult and it can feel hard to cope on your own. At times like this it is OK to ask for help. Young people come to us for a variety of different reasons such as difficulties with family or friends, feelings of sadness or depression, anxiety, worries about school, college or work, self-harm, drug taking or concerns about gender, sexuality, or sex.

“Counselling here is a safe, friendly environment and I felt like everything I said was my choice and I could trust my counsellor.”

Female, 16

How do I book an appointment?

There are different ways to access our service dependant on your age.

Young adults aged 18-24 | Self refer

As long as you live, or have a registered GP in one of the areas we cover we can accept a referral.

Please call Heads Together directly on 01737 378481 or email headstog@ymcaeastsurrey.org.uk where we can accept a direct referral from yourself.

We will need to take a few brief details to ensure we are the right service to be supporting you and we can also explain more about how we work. We will find a suitable day/time to book you in for an initial assessment with one of our counsellors. This would be a one- off 50-minute virtual appointment. You would then stay on the waiting list for suitable sessions. When we have sessions available, you would be offered a block of 12 weekly sessions, these can be face to face or virtual- whichever is your preference.

Young people aged 11-17

If you or your child is under 17, we will direct you to seek a referral from your GP or other professional including an education setting to Mindworks Surrey. Referrals are triaged by the Mindworks service and sent to the most appropriate support partner. Young people aged 11-17 are offered the opportunity to come for 8 weekly sessions with one of our counsellors.

Further information about Mindworks Surrey can be found here

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What about the cost?

Our service is free to all clients.

What will happen in my counselling session?

Meetings with your counsellor will be private and confidential and will usually last for 50 minutes. You can talk about anything that is concerning you. Our counsellors are friendly and supportive and won’t judge you. Your counsellor will not tell you what to do but will give you the time and space to get to know yourself better and will help you think through things for yourself.

Most young people are offered the opportunity to come for between 6-12 weekly sessions with one of our counsellors.

What about confidentiality?

We know how important it is for young people to feel confident they can trust their counsellor. Nothing you tell us will be passed on to anyone outside the agency or our NHS partners, without your consent, unless we think that you or any other person will be in danger. Even then, we would try to talk to you about it first.

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My sessions have been excellent. The counsellor has truly been fully supportive and taken the time to listen and help me to realise what it is that I need. I have made decisions I would not otherwise have made and feel all the more positive for it. I am not scared of the future anymore now that I have the tools and resilience to cope.

Male, 24

Where you can go

We hold counselling sessions at various locations across East Surrey.

Caterham | Caterham United Reformed Church
Dorking | Dorking Christian Centre
Horley | YMCA Horley Young People and Family Centre
Leatherhead | Leatherhead Institute
Oxted | United Reformed Church
Redhill | YMCA Hillbrook House & YMCA Sports & Community Centre
Tadworth | YMCA Phoenix Youth Centre

We also offer the opportunity to come for virtual sessions using Teams or Zoom if you would prefer this option.

Volunteer counsellor vacancies

If you are a trainee counsellor currently studying at a Level 4 Diploma level or above and requiring a placement, please do make contact with Shan Johnson, Counselling Manager, at headstog@ymcaeastsurrey.org.uk for further details.

Alternatively, if you are a qualified Counsellor looking to expand your knowledge and gain experience working with young people through volunteering, we would love to hear from you.

Find out more

If you decide that counselling may be helpful for you, and you would like to know more or arrange an appointment, please get in touch with us:

T 01737 378481 (24 hour answering service)
E headstog@ymcaeastsurrey.org.uk

We are members of The British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy.