You can self-refer by telephone.  Third parties / other agencies such as your GP or a family member or friend can contact us to make a referral on your behalf, but we will need to speak to you directly to confirm you have agreed to the referral.

The Dove Service will do one of the following:

• For life-changing / limiting illness or significant loss we will invite you to an initial assessment session / or arrange for a telephone assessment.
• For a child or young person we will arrange an initial assessment session.
• For bereavement support (Stoke-on-Trent / North Staffs area) we will send you an information pack detailing our services. If after reading the pack you would like to access one of our bereavement support services, please telephone our office on 01782 683155. You will then be invited to an initial assessment.
• For bereavement support (other locations) we will arrange an initial assessment either face to face or over the telephone.

This is a one-to-one meeting with an experienced counsellor where you can both discuss your needs and what the Dove Service can offer.  Our assessments usually last between 30-45 minutes and can also be undertaken over the phone if this is more convenient.

If you decide one of our services is for you then the counsellor will discuss our service agreement and the boundaries of confidentiality with you.

Basic personal information will be collected so we can add you to our waiting list and the counsellor will invite you to complete some questionnaires together.  These will help you to explore how you are feeling, the areas that are causing you to struggle, and help you to focus on what you want to get out of counselling with us.

This is also your opportunity to ask questions about counselling and to let us know if you have any preferences about the counsellor that you are matched with.  We understand that some of our clients are more comfortable with male counsellors and others with female, and the age of your counsellor may be important to you.  We will do what we can to get you the right support with the right counsellor.

At the end of your assessment session we will let you know what our current wait times are, and then you will be added to our waiting list.

If anything changes for you whilst you are on the waiting list, or you feel as though you need to talk to someone because you have started to feel worse, you can call our offices at any time during our opening hours.

At difficult times in your life you can sometimes feel isolated. It could be that you feel like you have nobody to turn to who would understand. Alternatively, for whatever reason, you may not want to turn to friends and family. At times like these you may feel it could be helpful to turn to someone independent, such as a counsellor.

Counselling is a form of ‘talking therapy’ that can be provided in many different ways. Our aim is to create a private, undisturbed and confidential environment where we hope you will quickly be able to develop a trusting working relationship with your counsellor and can safely talk about your feelings, emotions and thoughts.

Counselling is not about giving advice or having a friendly chat.  Your counsellor is an impartial professional.

There are many different types of Counselling, at the Dove Service the majority of our Counsellors are trained in Person-Centred Counselling which is a ‘Humanistic’ approach.  In essence this means that the counselling will be lead by you, as our client, to use your inner resources to understand your thoughts and feelings, whilst offering you an environment that is non-judgemental, open, honest, empathic and respectful.

If you decide to come to the Dove Service for counselling please feel free to ask your Counsellor about their training and background, different people need different things from counselling, so it’s important to us that you get what you need.