About
NEECS provides accessible one-to-one professional counselling for young people and adults living in North East Edinburgh
Our story
North East Edinburgh Counselling Service (NEECS) was established in 1995 to support the people of North East Edinburgh to improve their mental wellbeing.
We provide free and donation based one-to-one professional counselling for young people (over 16) and adults experiencing mental health challenges.
Easy access to free counselling has the potential to significantly improve people’s lives. NEECS fills a much-needed gap and can even provide a lifeline for those who cannot afford to pay for counselling.
When counselling helps one person, it helps the whole community. Our service is specially designed for people who experience disadvantage and exclusion due to issues affecting their mental wellbeing.
Counselling equips our service users with better coping techniques and builds their resilience in the face of life’s challenges. This leads our service users to feel in control of their lives, make positive choices and enjoy improved relationships with themselves, their loved ones and their communities.
Our experienced team of self-employed counsellors and supervisors are trained in a range of counselling tools and approaches. While counselling is unregulated, all of our counsellors are registered with professional bodies including the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the Confederation of Scottish Counselling Agencies (COSCA).
NEECS is an integral part of the local community which should be secured and expanded in the future.
Dr Samuel Watt, GP Partner, Brunton Place Surgery
Our community impact 2023/24
301 referrals made to
our service
Working with local health services we have reduced the impact of anxiety and depression in our community
1387 sessions offered
to 282 service users
We have empowered over 120 service users to make positive choices for their futures
12 weeks average waiting time for service users
Our service aims to get people in North East Edinburgh the help they need to improve their mental health and wellbeing quickly
100% of service users contacted within 5 days
We reach out to our service users as soon as possible to create positive outcomes for individuals and their communities
NEECS Annual Reports
NEECS is supported by
