Appointments

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.  With the exception of your initial sessions, we do not offer free counselling but we do try to ensure that no-one in need of counselling is excluded for financial reasons.

Your first appointment
 
Our administrator will try to offer you an appointment within 2 weeks.  Initially you will meet one of our counsellors for one or two 50-minute sessions when you can talk about your situation. Following these initial appointments you can decide whether you want to continue with further appointments. If the counsellor thinks that Compass is not the best service for you, then he/she will suggest other agencies, which may be more helpful to meet your particular needs.

Thanks to NHS funding we are currently able to offer these initial sessions free of charge. You will however be required to contribute towards the cost of subsequent counselling appointments, according to your ability to do so (see next paragraph). 

Subsequent appointments

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 last for 50 minutes.

When you first meet your counsellor he/she will agree with you how much you are able to contribute towards the cost of your counselling.  If you are experiencing financial hardship, we do have a bursary fund which can be used to bridge the gap between your contribution and the actual cost of your session.  The bursary funds are limited so we do ask that you contribute as much as you can reasonably afford.

Contributions towards counselling costs are reviewed with your counsellor every six months.  Missed or cancelled sessions do have to be paid for.

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: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk    
    
 * Samaritans offers confidential support 24 hours a day. Phone 08457 90 90 90
    or visit www.samaritans.org for more information.