West Mercia Women’s Aid
Counselling and Therapeutic Services

Counselling and Therapeutic Services

How can counselling help?

Sometimes we find that the emotional and psychological impacts of domestic abuse stay with us long after physical scars may have healed. As part of the recovery support services we offer, we currently provide individual counselling to victims and survivors. The counselling is free of charge; we can offer 12 weekly sessions.

Counselling is a time and space to talk about experiences, worries, memories, thoughts and feelings in a confidential setting with someone who will listen and not be judgemental and who is outside of your normal life. A counsellor does not assist with practical matters (like a support worker), but provides a space to work through your thoughts, feelings and experiences, so you can find your own way forward.

If you are currently using our services, then please speak to your support worker, IDVA or group facilitator about being referred to our counselling service. If you have previously completed a programme of support with us and would like to access counselling through WMWA, then you can self-refer to the service here.

After referral, we will contact you to arrange an assessment appointment. This will be a meeting with a counsellor to answer any questions you might have about starting counselling and to make sure that counselling is the right thing for you just now. You can normally be expected to be contacted by us within a month of the referral being made.

Interested in working with us?

We are reliant on the skills and goodwill of our volunteer counselling team to provide this service and welcome applications to join the team. We provide opportunities for qualified counsellors to volunteer, and for trainee counsellors with appropriate knowledge and experience to undertake their practice experience with adult clients.

We ask for a minimum commitment of 12 months, and the availability to work with at least 2 clients on a weekly basis. Counselling is currently provided face-to-face in Hereford, Worcester, Kidderminster and Telford, so you must be available to work out of at least one (and ideally more than one) of these locations. Counselling normally takes place during weekday working hours, so you would need to have availability during these times. It would be helpful for you to have some awareness of the impacts of trauma or trauma-informed practice.

You need to provide evidence of your own Professional Indemnity Insurance and to make your own arrangements for appropriate clinical supervision.

We normally start placements in February and September (so expect applications by early November and late June), but you are welcome to contact us outside of these times in case a space has become available.

If you are a qualified counsellor or psychotherapist (to Level 5 or above) and are interested in volunteering, please complete this volunteer application form.

If you are a student with relevant experience and working towards a professional counselling or psychotherapy course which qualifies you to be a counsellor at its end, then please complete this student application form.