You and your counsellor will have a confidential discussion at your first appointment about contributions to the cost of sessions and agree on what best suits your situation. Our policy includes providing sessions free of charge or by a contribution at a level suited to individual circumstances.

No. Our service is developed to provide access to counselling for people in North East Edinburgh whose income may not allow them to choose other counselling services.

Sessions free of charge are provided according to need.

Waiting times for our service are calculated regularly and you will be told the average current waiting time when you use our referral form to register for our service.

Please note that we can only ever give a rough indication – waiting times depend on many factors, such as your own availability and any stated preferences.

Yes. Please find our list of urgent help for more immediate sources of support in our resource directory.

No. With the resources the service has, we are unable to offer you a choice between particular counselling approaches or members of our team. If you are looking for greater choice, information on finding private counselling can be found in our resource directory.

If you have a preference about the gender of your counsellor, let us know in your referral form and your choice will be accommodated. The same applies to your preference of online, telephone or face-to-face counselling.

Yes. After your first appointment, if you would like to see a different counsellor, you can request a new counsellor and you do not have to give a reason, although any feedback you wish to give is welcomed. We will do our best to offer you an alternative as soon as one is available.

If you have used the service and wish to re-refer again, you can do so after a minimum of six months.

It may be possible to see the same counsellor as before, but we cannot guarantee this. We’re happy to discuss this with you when you re-refer.

There are some steps up to our main counselling space at The Heart of Newhaven Community Centre. We do have access to a fully accessible space at the centre, so please let us know your access requirements when you refer.

Our service information is available in large print.

You can find information on services available across Edinburgh and Scotland in our resource directory, including specialist services and counsellors working in private practice.

No. You can’t refer someone else to our service as everyone who wishes to use it needs to refer themselves. If someone you know does refer themself, they will see a different counsellor from you.

No. NEECS doesn’t currently offer couples counselling as part of our service. You can find more information on specialist services like couples counselling in our resource directory.

Yes. We do offer a limited number of evening appointments but there is a high demand for these times and it is not always possible to meet all requests. As a result, there can be additional waiting time involved when requesting evening appointments – this is dependent on the number of clients on the list requiring particular times.

Yes. We offer appointments during school and pre-school hours. Currently, we don’t have the resources or space to provide a creche space. We can however discuss suitable appointment times during hours where you have childcare cover.