Information for students thinking about counselling

Do I need to see a counsellor?

Many people sort out problems by talking to friends, family or staff in their College or Department. For others it is a matter of looking up information about things that concern them, and we have a large section of self-help information on this website - follow the Self-help Resources link here or on the left. But there are times when this isn't enough and it makes sense to come to the Counselling Service.

Who is the Service for?

The Service is free and available to all undergraduate students in residence and graduate students on the register, including students of the Theological Colleges. Students who have de-graded or who are intermitting from their studies may be referred to their GPs or offered a limited service with a view to referral.

Staff of the Colleges may be seen once for assessment and onward referral. More information is available from this link.

A separate and dedicated University Staff Counselling Service is available for University employees.

Individual and Group Counselling

The Service offers primarily brief counselling, with the majority of students seen for six sessions or fewer. As well as individual counselling, we provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and access to guided self-help, where this is appropriate. Brief counselling and CBT both involve an active, collaborative process, with ongoing sessions or follow-ups scheduled at weekly, fortnightly or longer intervals. This therapeutic approach can be very effective for help with a wide range of personal, developmental and academic-related problems.

In some cases we can offer some longer-term support though this is often in a counselling group.

The Service also offers a variety of topic-specific workshops throughout the year, as well as short-term and longer-term CBT and counselling groups. More information is available from this link. Some of these are specifically designed for undergraduate or graduate students.

Liaison with Academic Departments or Colleges

If your work is being affected by personal problems it may be helpful for your counsellor to liaise with your Tutor, Director of Studies or other person within the University. Because the Service is confidential, we would need your consent to do so - let your counsellor know if you would find this helpful.

Liaison with GPs and Mental Health Services

All students should register with a Cambridge doctor and it can be helpful to inform your GP that you are seeing a counsellor at the UCS. We can also arrange mental health assessments within the Counselling Service either via our Mental Health Advisor (see below) or through a referral to a Consultant Psychiatrist, who sees students in the Service. Your counsellor would discuss this with you if this seems appropriate.

Mental Health Advisor

The Mental Health Advisor working in the Counselling Service accepts referrals from members of staff concerned about a student's mental health and offers:

• Mental Health Assessments
• Advice, guidance and support
• Crisis Intervention and suicide risk assessments
• Liaison with College staff, GP’s, Mental Health Services and DRC
• Referral to appropriate services
• Drug and Alcohol Advice
• Out of term-time availability
• Support assessments for returning degraded students

For more information, please see the page on the Mental Health Advisor.

Making an appointment

Arranging a 1-off consultation

A one-off consultation session can be booked by phone.  We will do our best to have sufficient sessions readily available, but there may be times when you need to phone back if an appointment isn’t available when you first call.

To meet with a counsellor for a one-off consultation, for example to get some guidance or some pointers about self-help strategies, or to talk over a specific issue, please phone the UCS Reception on (3)32865 between 9.30 – 4.30, Monday to Friday.  This one-off consultation session will last approx. 40 minutes. This is not suitable as an emergency or crisis appointment; nor is it a route into counselling - please see below if this is what you want.

Arranging counselling

To arrange counselling, please complete a 'Pre-Counselling Form' on our secure website. The form can be submitted in confidence to the Counselling Service online. You will need your Raven password to use this facility. To access this route, please click on the link below:

• Complete Pre-Counselling form online (secure website)

If you prefer to download a Word or RTF version of the 'Pre-Counselling Form' and complete this by hand, please click on one of the following links:

• Download Pre-Counselling form [Word, 125KB]
• Download Pre-Counselling form [RTF, 220KB]

Once completed, you can bring the form to the Counselling Service, 2-3 Bene't Place, Lensfield Road, or post it via the internal mail marked for ‘Reception’. In case of technical difficulties, the form is also available as an email attachment or in hard copy from the Service.

The information you give will remain confidential within the Counselling Service, and helps us to place you with an appropriate counsellor.

Receiving an appointment offer for counselling

After receiving your form, we will send you an email acknowledgement. In most cases, an appointment will be offered by email and you will be asked to confirm within a stated time period.

During peak times, your details may be placed on the waiting list until a suitable appointment becomes available. For more information about waiting times and appointment offers, please see our FAQs page

If you are unable to attend an appointment, please let us know as early as possible. We will normally make up to two appointment offers, based on the availability shown in your timetable. We do our best to accommodate personal and academic commitments, but the more flexible you can be in terms of availability, the more likely you are to be seen promptly.

Counselling Waiting List Information

The Counselling Service sees over 1300 students annually. From November to mid-June the demand for appointments usually exceeds the supply available; up-to-date information about waiting times can be found on our News page. To remain an equitable provision and to reduce waiting times for everyone, the Intake Team makes appointment offers on a daily basis according to the guidelines below:

• Priority on our waiting list takes into account the urgency of your situation and the length of time you have been waiting. When as appointment offer is made, we will ask that you confirm it by a given date.
• Provided you do this, your appointment is secure. However, if you do not respond, we will reallocate the appointment to someone else.
• If you do not reply to an initial offer - or you do not keep a confirmed appointment - you will receive a follow-up email from Reception asking whether you still wish to pursue counselling at this time.
• If we then hear nothing further from you, your details may be removed from the waiting list.