How to make an appointment

The Student Counselling Service is not an emergency service and we cannot guarantee same-day appointments. We try to see students for an initial meeting within 10 working days. In times of crisis, however, other services are more appropriate (refer to Support in times of crisis page).

What happens at my first appointment?

Your first appointment will be an opportunity for you to talk with a counsellor and tell us in some detail about the difficulties you are experiencing. Sometimes this session will be enough to help you find a way forward but if not, we will discuss which of the options we offer at the Counselling Service will be most suitable for you – whether it is a workshop or group, guided self-help, time-limited counselling or CBT.

YOU CAN CONTACT US BY:

Plymouth campus and PAHC campus

calling in to the Reception on the ground floor of 4 Portland Mews, Drake Circus

telephoning +44 (0)1752 587701 or

emailing studentcounselling@plymouth.ac.uk

Knowledge Spa, Truro

calling in to a Drop-In session (times displayed)
telephoning +44 (0)1872 258180 or
emailing studentcounselling@plymouth.ac.uk

Most people feel awkward at first so don’t let concern about how you will explain what is going on for you stop you from coming to see us – we will do our best to put you at your ease and certainly will not be there to judge you. And if you don’t feel your problems are important enough to bother us with - we’d rather you checked things out than let them develop into a crisis!

When you first contact the Service we will ask you to give us brief contact details. We also ask you to arrive five minutes before the initial appointment, which usually lasts up to 50 minutes, to complete a straightforward questionnaire. If you have any questions you can ask Julie or Heather in Reception. We have very clear policies about confidentiality. You can use the initial appointment to ask any questions at all about how we work – the more interactive an approach you take the more likely you are to get what you need from the session.

complaints procedure

We always endeavour to offer a high quality service, but also recognise that at times we may fall short of these high standards.

If you are not happy with any aspect of the service, please raise this with your counsellor in the first instance. If you would like to speak to someone else, please ask Reception staff to put you in touch with Rachael Cretney, the Service Manager. Any concern will be handled with sensitivity.

If you wish to progress concerns as a formal complaint, please refer to the Student Complaints Procedure, available from the Student Counselling Service Reception or via Rules and Regulations in the University Student Handbook.

All complaints should be addressed through the University’s Student Complaint Procedure in the first instance. Should all stages of the University’s procedure be exhausted without satisfactory resolution, concerns can be raised through the Professional Conduct Procedure of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). As an organisational member, the Student Counselling Service subscribes to the BACP Ethical Framework and is subject to the BACP Professional Conduct Procedure. Copies of all these documents are available from Reception.

The University aims to provide high quality services to students and outlines the levels of service you can expect in the University Student Handbook.