Over the past year, MindOut's counselling service has recovered from the disruption caused by the pandemic, and is now bigger than ever. We're doing our best to keep up with the demand for low-cost LGBTQ-affirmative counselling, but we've had to put in some restrictions to help manage our waiting list. At the moment, unfortunately, we can't accept returning clients who would like to come back for further rounds of counselling, and we can't accept clients from outside the Brighton and Hove area. We hope to remove these restrictions as soon as we can.
We continue to offer a choice of online or face-to-face sessions so clients have a choice of how best to access our service. In the face of a cost-of-living crisis we're committed to keeping sessions genuinely affordable. Clients on very tight incomes are able to access sessions from as little as £5 per session and those who can afford more are asked to contribute what they can. Our volunteer counsellors do an amazing job, generously offering their time so that others in our LGBTQ communities can access therapy that otherwise wouldn't be available to them.
All this demand for counselling means that our waiting list has grown; new clients may wait 3 months or more to be seen. In the meantime, we suggest that people try our Online Support service for a free, confidential, 1-to-1 web chat with a trained volunteer. This service is available most evenings with some daytime sessions, on-demand and without an appointment. Details and opening hours are shown on our website: www.mindout.org.uk