How do I get Started?
We are offering in person, telephone or online therapy to adults
Because we cannot see everyone at this difficult time we have collected together 100s of resources, activities and links to help you at www.openmindslibrary.com
If you can pay £30 a session we can pay a counsellor specifically to work with you or your child, much sooner than our waiting list for free or subsidised therapy.
The link for non-concessionary (NC) referrals is here (children aged 8 and over, and adults):
Under 14s may be offered face to face counselling on Saturdays at a time between 10am and 1:30pm at Open Minds, or video / telephone therapy after school on weekdays, subject to counsellors being available and in accordance with government safety guidelines
Young people aged 14 and over will be offered video calling or telephone counselling
update 20th May 2025
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It is with a heavy heart I share the awful news that Open Minds Counselling Services has not secured continuation funding for our award-winning counselling service.
This means that we are losing 13 of our counsellors and most of our management and admin team due to redundancies on 1st June 2025.
Our capacity will go from working weekly with 43 children aged 8 and over, and 43 adults, to only 20 adults a week, mostly provided by volunteers. Sadly, this does mean our children’s counselling service will be entirely closed.
We will be contacting the people on our waiting list in the coming days in order to advise them to seek help from NHS talking therapies, or CAMHS. We recognise however that many were referred to us by NHS sources because they did not fit the criteria for NHS support.
We hope by July to know more about how we can continue our paid-for counselling services, which are charged at £30 a session. Please check out our website at www.counsellingdoncaster.com or our facebook page for updates, as and when we know more, and please feel free to share this with your networks.
We know this is a devastating loss for Doncaster, and we are holding onto the fact that since 2007 we have supported over 4,000 adults, and more than 1,500 children through counselling support, with 96% reporting improved mental health and wellbeing.
We are not yet closing altogether, and intend to build ourselves back up to capacity in the future, if we can secure alternative sources of funding. However, we have no way of knowing if that will happen, nor how long it will take, as it costs more than £200,000 per annum for our team of 27 employees to run at full capacity 6 days a week. Without funding we will aim to provide counselling as and when our volunteers are available, 20 hours a week.
IMP;ACT is funded separately and will continue to support adults who have attempted suicide.
Please bear with us during this difficult time as we figure out what the future holds.
Kindest regards
Helen Mason
Managing Director
We are still able to take referrals for clients who can pay £30 a session or more - as these slots do not rely on funding.
Payment 24 hours in advance is required.
If this applies to you please use the link below:
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IS IT SECRET?
Attending counselling with Open Minds does not appear on your NHS record, because we are an independent charity.
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Counselling is confidential and what is said is kept between you and your counsellor unless someone is in danger.
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If we have reason to believe someone is in danger we have a legal obligation to act to protect them. This may mean contacting Social Services, the Police or the NSPCC depending on the nature of the concern. We would normally discuss this with you before contacting anyone, unless we believe this would endanger people further.
The exceptions are that in supervision your counsellor will need to discuss their work with you, but not to report what you have told them, instead to ensure they are working ethically with you and to the best of their abilities.
The counsellor will email brief notes which are kept in your electronic file and password protected and coded. Files kept on site are kept in a locked office and the building locked, padlocked and two separate burglar alarms are in use.
Once your counselling ends we will archive your file and then store it in secure cabinets or electronically for 7 years, or if you are under 18 we store them for 7 years once you are 18.
You can ask us to destroy your information at any time however as part of compliance with the 2018 GDPR law.
HOW OFTEN WILL I COME AND HOW LONG FOR?
We offer 10 sessions initially, but you may find that you do not need all of these. If you find that 10 sessions is not enough your counsellor will discuss this with you and request an extension. Counselling is not intended to last forever but we understand that some difficulties and distress take a long time to explore, understand and overcome. You can come for as long as the counselling is therapeutically useful.
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You will see the same counsellor every session unless you request someone else.
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We have both male and female counsellors available.
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We have ground floor counselling rooms available
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We open both inside and outside school and work hours.
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Day-time and evening and weekend appointments are available
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All of our counsellors primarily speak English but we do have one counsellor who is fluent in British Sign language.
Each session lasts 50 minutes.
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We are very sorry for any delay in contacting us.
We are open 49 hours per week.
We have 2 telephones and are also frequently contacted by e-mail for appointments, and this does mean that it can take a while to get through to us.
If you phone us on 07765 224564 and leave a message (or text that number) we are likely to respond sooner as the landline does not have an answer phone.
If you have left us an answerphone message, text or e-mail and not heard back within a week we suggest phoning again.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to receiving your referral.