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Counselling and support

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There are certain stages in our life where previous ways of coping seem to fail us.

Receiving news that a member of your family has had a spinal cord injury can be upsetting and shocking, and may leave you wondering how you will manage in the future, or how you will readjust to the change in your family life.
You may think that you have to be the strong one, you shouldn’t let your loved one know how you are feeling, you don’t want to trouble the medical staff, your friends and immediate family, or simply you may believe that people are too busy to listen to you.

  • Counselling gives you the opportunity to talk through your concerns and difficulties in a confidential setting with an experienced and trained counsellor, whilst being heard in a non-judgemental way.
  • If there isn’t a counsellor within the hospital that you are visiting, you may like to talk to a professional counsellor elsewhere.
  • The organisations listed below will enable you to find a qualified counsellor in your area.

Family Counselling Services
Relate
Counselling Ltd
RoadPeace
The Samaritans
Carers UK
Family Counselling Services

Family counselling services at the NSIC
(Available to family members who have a relative within the NSIC, Stoke Mandeville)

You may want to talk to a counsellor on your own or come with others.

Whether the individual is a new admission or has been readmitted to the National Spinal Injuries Centre, any family member may have access to the family counsellor. This includes young people, close friends and relatives.

The National Spinal Injuries Centre
Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Mandeville Road
Aylesbury, Bucks
HP21 8AL

Telephone: 01296 838402

Relate

Relate is the UK’s largest provider of relationship, family counselling and sex therapy. They also offer a whole range of other relationship support services, including useful books covering relationship issues about staying together and recommitting to your relationship.

To find your nearest Relate, telephone the number below or visit the Relate website.

Address:
Premier House
Carolina Court
Lakeside
Doncaster
DN4 5RA

Telephone: 0300 100 1234
Website: www.relate.org

Counselling Ltd

Counselling Ltd is a rapidly expanding professional membership organisation for counsellors and psychotherapists in the Britsh Isles.

To date, we have established a network of 2700 affiliated CCC Registered Counsellors.

Since 1998 Counselling Ltd have been building their membership whilst playing a key role in helping to link those on low incomes to our local counsellors who have opted to provide occasional cost-free or discounted face-to-face counselling. Nationwide our independent affiliates consist of 750 volunteers. The charity liaises between clients on low incomes and counsellors or psychotherapists who are prepared to provide free services.

Counselling Ltd is a registered charity with a membership organisation for counsellors and psychotherapists in the British Isles. They play a key role in helping to link those on low incomes to local counsellors in their area who have opted to provide occasional, cost-free, face-to-face counselling.

To apply, you must be in receipt of one of the following benefits:

  • Income Based Income Support
  • Income Based Pension Credit
  • Income Based Jobseekers Allowance
  • Incapacity Benefit

Send your name, home address, email details, telephone number, NI number and details of the benefits you receive and they will contact you.

Address:

5 Pear Tree Walk,
Wakefield,
West Yorkshire,
WF2 0HW

Website: https://counselling.ltd.uk

RoadPeace

RoadPeace provides a national helpline for bereaved relatives, injured people and their carers.

  • Our helpline offers vital information, advice and support, seven days a week from 9am to 9pm.
  • This service is backed up by a number of useful publications.

We are the national charity for road crash victims. Our members include those who have been bereaved or injured in crashes and also those who are concerned about road danger.

We are the only member based charity for road crash victims in the UK, and the only one with local groups. We listen to the needs of our members and consult with them over key consultations and campaigns.

We provide both support for existing victims and work to prevent future victims by campaigning for road danger reduction.

We are independent, with the majority of our funding coming from our members and supporters, often bereaved families.

We are pioneering, and have led the way in campaigning for the rights of road crash victims and road danger reduction.

We are evidence based and are the only road safety related charity in the UK to have produced a systematic review for the Cochrane Collaboration.

Address:
PO Box 2579
London NW10 3PW

Telephone: 020 8838 5102
Helpline: 0845 4500 355
Email: helpline@roadpeace.org or info@roadpeace.org
Website: www.roadpeace.org

The Samaritans

The Samaritans offer their service by telephone, email, letter and face-to-face sessions in most of their branches.

The Samaritans is a national charity providing confidential, non-judgemental emotional support 24-hours-a-day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide.

They are also there to talk to you even if you are worried about something, feel upset or confused, or just want to talk.

You can talk to Samaritans at any time of the day or night.

Common reasons to call Samaritans are:

  • Relationship and family problems
  • Loss, including loss of a job, a friend or a family member through bereavement
  • Financial worries
  • Job-related stress or overwork
  • College or study related stress
  • Body image issues

Volunteers offer support by responding to phone calls, emails and letters.

Alternatively, you can often drop in to a branch to have a face to face meeting.

“There’s very few places you can go to in the world where you can pick up a telephone and another human being, no matter why they’re doing it, will listen to you unconditionally. If you want to pour out in a phonecall, they will listen for hours, for as long as you need them to.” Samaritans caller

Write to us:
Freepost RSRB-KKBY-CYJK
Chris
P.O. Box 90 90
Stirling
FK8 2SA

Telephone: 08457 909090
Email: jo@samaritans.org
Website: www.samaritans.org

If you live outside of the UK and ROI, or wish to use a language other than English, please visit www.befrienders.org to find your nearest helpline.

Carers UK

Carers UK is a charity set up to help the millions of people who care for family or friends.

Without unpaid carers, our NHS would collapse and the country would face an £119 billion care bill it cannot afford.

Carers are contributing so much to their communities by looking after the people they love, yet in return they face ignorance, isolation and little or no support. This has to stop. It cannot be fair that those who contribute so much are valued so little. Carers UK wants society to respect, value and support carers.

At some point in our lives every one of us is likely to be involved in looking after an older relative, a sick friend or a disabled family member. Six million people in the UK are caring right now, but whilst caring is part and parcel of life, without the right support the personal costs of caring can be high. Caring can take its toll on your finances, your health, your career and your family and your social life. Carers can fall out of paid work and many rely on low-level benefits, forcing them into poverty.

We help carers get the best for the person they care for by:

  • Making the most of their income
  • Staying in paid work
  • Keeping healthy
  • Getting in touch with other carers for support
  • Finding a listening ear
  • Campaigning for change

Carers UK is the voice of carers who provide unpaid care by looking after an ill, frail or disabled family member, friend or partner.

Carers UK is an organisation of carers fighting to get recognition of the true value of carers’ contribution to society and for carers get the practical, financial and emotional support they need. They produce a monthly magazine for members and operate a CarersLine.

Telephone: 0808 808 7777
Website: www.carersuk.org
(with links to groups in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales)