Counselling at Hope

Hope Housing offer one to one counselling to the all of our 98 residents. Counselling is provided with a team of 4 counsellors whom of which are in their final year of study and volunteer their time to help and support Hope Housing & the residents who really need this service.

Our support manager, Lisa Everett whom of which is a member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) oversees the service and provides extra supervision to the client load. Lisa and the team follow the NCPS Ethical Framework and offer weekly sessions to all residents. 

Lisa and the team have identified that those residents whom received weekly support with the addition of counselling weekly, seemed to improve their quality of life at a faster rate than those without these sessions. Therefore with the good progress our residents were making, Hope Housing decided to increase the counselling services available, to maintain their recovery and aid their journey.

All our residents are given a clinical assessment prior to entering counselling, this is to assess their presenting concerns and to ensure that we can offer the right counselling provision for their needs, before being placed with a suitable counsellor. All counselling is confidential. Our counsellors are DBS advanced checked. This means all our sessions are strictly private and will not be discussed without the residents consent. 

 How does it all work?

If a resident shows interest in attending our counselling sessions, Lisa will contact the resident & refer them to the counselling team who will arrange a counselling assessment. Once the resident has been assessed they are placed with one of four counsellors. All counsellors are either qualified or in their final months of training. Once assigned a counsellor our residents then meet weekly for their sessions in our quiet rooms on site. We believe that offering a weekly service is more beneficial than more often as it allows our residents to absorb and process the each and every session. Sometimes more than not, one session can have great impact on the resident and allowing them to go away and process the information is vital. 

Where do the sessions take place?

Almost a year ago we celebrated the opening of our brand new Quiet Rooms in the esteemed company of our funders, Dorset Freemasonry Solent Area of Hants & IOW Masons Masonic Charitable Foundation Dorset Masonic Care. The Quiet Rooms, overlooking our lovely Hope gardens, are invaluable to us in respect of having somewhere calm, relaxed and... yes, you guessed it: QUIET for our residents to come to for their regular one-to-one counselling, training and education sessions. 

What is Counselling & Why is it important?

Counselling, or 'therapy' as it is commonly known, falls under the umbrella term ‘talking therapies’ and allows people to discuss their problems and any difficult feelings they encounter in a safe, confidential environment. The term can mean different things to different people, but in general, it is a process people seek when they want to change something in their lives, or simply explore their thoughts and feelings in more depth.

A counsellor, or therapist, is not there to sit you down and tell you what to do. Instead, they will encourage you to talk about what's bothering you in order to uncover any root causes and identify your specific ways of thinking. They may then look to create a plan of action to either help you reconcile your issues, or help you to find ways of coping.

"Struggles are real, but so is hope"