Appointments
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How to make an appointment:
By telephone - 01590 674011
The Compass telephone line is not manned at all times. Please be prepared to leave a contact number which you are happy for us to use and some convenient times when we can call you back. We aim to return your call within two days, excluding weekends.
By email - to administrator@compasscounselling.co.uk, telling us how you would like to be contacted.
By post -
The Administrator
Compass Counselling Service
Compass House
50 Gosport Street
Lymington
Hampshire
SO41 9BB
About your appointments
Compass Counselling Service is a non-profit-making registered charity. We do not offer free counselling but we do try to ensure that no-one in need of our service is excluded for financial reasons. If you are in receipt of means-tested benefits we are able to offer a reduced cost service to a limited number of clients (see below).
Your first consultation and the cost
Initially you will meet one of our counsellors for a consultation lasting up to an hour and a half when you will be able to talk about your situation. Our administrator will aim to offer you this appointment within 2 weeks. The contribution required towards the cost of this consultation is currently £35.
After this first appointment you can decide whether you want to continue with counselling. If the counsellor considers that Compass is not the best service for you, then he/she will try to suggest other agencies which may be more suited to your particular needs.
Subsequent appointments and the cost
If you decide to continue with counselling this will normally be arranged with another counsellor who will be available to you on a weekly basis at the same time each week. Each weekly counselling session will be at the same time each week and last for 50 minutes.
The cost to Compass of each counselling session is £35 and we do ask you to contribute this full amount if you can. If you are unable to meet this cost, we ask you to contribute as much as you can reasonably manage to do. As a non-profit making charity, the minimum contribution that we can afford to accept towards the cost of counselling sessions is kept under constant review.
If you are unable to contribute the minimum amount that we can afford to accept, we do have a bursary fund which can be used to top-up your contribution BUT, due to high demand, the bursary fund is currently closed. If you are unable to afford the current minimum contribution, you may wish to ask the administrator to put you on a waiting list so that she can contact you when funding becomes available. Unfortunately it won't be possible for her to tell you how long the wait is likely to be but you will be kept informed on a regular basis.
If you are in receipt of means-tested benefit, we are able to offer a limited number of reduced cost places. Under this scheme, your contribution towards each consultation, including the initial consultation, is reduced to £10 and limited to 8 weeks of counselling.
Contributions towards counselling costs are reviewed with your counsellor every six months.
If you cancel or fail to attend your booked session, we still require you to make your contribution. This is because your counselling session is reserved for you each week and cannot be offered to anyone else.
Disability Access
All our counselling rooms are on the first floor of Compass House. If you are unable to climb stairs please inform our administrator and we will arrange for your counselling to be offered at another suitable venue.
In an emergency
We are not able to provide an immediate emergency service.
If you need immediate help we suggets that you contact one of the following:
* Your GP
* NHS Direct 0845 46 47 website: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/
* Samaritans offers confidential support 24 hours a day. Phone 08457 90 90 90
or visit http://www.samaritans.org/ for more information.
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