Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust (TSDHC ) is responsible for providing health and adult social care for people in Torbay.

At present there are no national standards for counselling and psychotherapy.

Under current regulations anyone can set themselves up as a psychotherapist or counsellor and charge patients for consultations. This leads to a wide variation in the level of competence and expertise available.

Until such time as statutory regulation is introduced, those employing counsellors should ensure that their recruitment arrangements are stringent and that therapists meet the training and supervision standards identified by the relevant professional organisations.

Those individuals using counselling services should be aware of what to expect from a counsellor and should be encouraged to work with counsellors who subscribe to professional bodies recognised codes of ethics and practice.

We have found it helpful to explain what counselling is at the beginning so that you may get most benefit from it.

Counselling is different from other forms of help; the focus is to enable you to clarify the issues about which you are troubled. This will involve you in exploring those issues in private with someone who is trained to listen and has no other role in your life. Through this confidential process, your counsellor will be seeking to enable you to clarify your thoughts and feelings. Counselling is a positive process, which is often associated with times of personal crisis. It may involve talking about painful parts of your life and therefore, you may feel worse before you feel better! It is also a very effective way of developing personal potential. If we are not the best people to help we will refer you elsewhere or suggest alternatives which may be more appropriate.

Counselling and Psychotherapy can be helpful for a wide range of difficulties such as: